Everything is on hold as we wait for white smoke to rise over One Patriot Place, indicating that a real-life gay has been chosen to run a Patriots game titled Everything As You Saw It On TV.
When that news drops, we’ll dive into either: a) why hiring Bill O’Brien meant the Patriots got him back or, b) why the Patriots couldn’t get Bill O’Brien.
While we wait, we can give credit to the Patriots for throwing a wider net in the OC than they did last season when they didn’t throw a net at all.
But the network is still not big. If you are not friends with Bill B., you do not need to apply.
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Each individual being examined has some kind of Belichick tie. Former Patriots OT Adrian Klemm It was a second-round draft pick Patriots in 2000. Keenan McCardell Played for Belichick in Cleveland. Sean Jefferson Played extensively for the Patriots in the mid-to-late 1990s and overlapped with Belichick in 1996. Nick Caley has been on the staff since 2015 as a tight ends coach. Obviously, O’Brien was here.
The industry is collaborating with offensive coaches with new ideas and methods.
But it seems the only way to get an audience with Bell is by hiring him beforehand (Clem, McCardell, O’Brien) or sharing a locker room (Jefferson) with him. It didn’t matter if he had to go back three decades to find a tie, if there was, Qualifier No. 1 satisfied. Then it will chime in to give an audience.
The incest approach has a definite positive side. knowledge.
Coaches who have been around Belichick Know the expectationshours and meager pay. They know what Belichick considers “good” football. They knew it because they trained alongside him. or were set up by him in their early twenties by common interests like lacrosse (Mike Pellegrino), learn “good football” and don’t know another way to attack the job.
The Patriots staff over the years was first populated by people Belichick had worked alongside such as Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel. Then, when those coaches moved on, young coaches by working under Nick Saban (Josh McDaniels, Brian DaPaul for example), working as a ballpark for the Browns (Eric Mangini) or playing for Belichick (Pepper Johnson) were screened and assigned and promoted to Level up. positions.
The whole industry is a “who knows…” company. Most of them. But the Patriots are the most clan team in the league. closed loop. Bill Belichick Comfort level rules everything.
Why did he keep drafting players from Rutgers? Because his son Stephen was playing there for coach Greg Schiano. Belichick came to trust Ciano (who spent about three days as the Patriots’ defensive coordinator in 2019). Stephen can testify. Rutgers became the Patriots’ farm team.
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The Patriots have also played exceptionally heavy on Urban Meyer players from both Florida and Ohio State in the past decade. In 14 of Belichick’s 23 drafts, he has taken multiple players from the same school. There are the usual suspects—LSU and Alabama players when Saban was in charge. But there were also two from Fresno State’s Pat Hill in 2005, two from Texas A&M University in 2003, and a top two from Georgia in 2018.
Once Belichick is satisfied with the program and the person running it, he’ll keep coming back to it for good measure. It worked out great for Logan Mankins and James Sanders (Fresno) OR Devin McCourtyDoron Harmon and Logan Ryan (Rutgers). Not so with Myers players like Chad Jackson, Jermaine Cunningham, and Aaron Hernandez.
Not everyone remains a “made man” forever. Confidence can evaporate. Ask Mangini. or Flores. But if you stay on Bill’s right side, Foxboro can become a safe haven for cold-turned friends.
When Mike Lombardi was fired by the Browns in 2014, he They came to work for the Patriots for two years. After Matt Patricia was fired by the Lions in 2020, Belichick brought him in to keep busy and lick his professional wounds. Joe Judge was sacked by the Giants. he He returned to New England. In each of those cases, the ex-team He was on the hook To pay the balance of the contract with, probably, some Patriot clearing.
The Patriots could avoid charging these men full fare by simply calling them “advisers” and allowing their former employers to continue paying. Razorback Foundation Indeed gone after Former University of Arkansas head coach Brett Bielema and the Patriots are on court after Bielema took low-paying jobs with the Patriots and went on to collect $12 million from the organization.
Patriots attorney Brandon Bigelow argued, “The Patriots paid Mr. Bielema a fair and reasonable amount for this work and he undoubtedly could have offered a much smaller amount for the work he did. …
“It is clear that what the Foundation is really doing is seeking improper leverage in a simple breach of contract with a dispute with a former coach . . . . With this matter going you must also consider how it might appear to others for the Foundation to assert frivolous allegations against a football team pitching a professional and harassing him just to give a fired college football coach a chance.”
Interestingly, both Bielema and Lombardi transferred from the Patriots when contracts with their old employers ran out and the Patriots had to start paying. We’ll see if the same happens with Patricia, whose Lions agreement has now expired. I hear he might be on his way out too.
It’s an angle. The individual wins by working on Belichick’s right hand. Patriots are getting work at a reduced rate. The competition to stay in Belichick’s good graces is intense.
What is the downside of this thug as it relates to this training research?
The pool of young men willing to work long hours for short pay with obscure titles should remain stocked. Otherwise, you will fall short on future candidates. A special trainer is assigned elsewhere and then raids your staff. As did Belichick when he came to New England in 2000.
The previous decade of Brady-assisted team success saw coaches and young executives flee for new jobs. McDaniels, Patricia, Brian Flores on the coaching side; Nick Caserio and Monty Ossenfurt on the staff side. They leave, they bring training friends with them, the staff shrinks. And the group of experienced benchers becomes shallower.
Belichick’s hits with coaches and executives departed due to age and opportunity are unprecedented in scope. It cannot be underestimated. And no one knows that better than Belichick.
But Belichick’s discomfort with the coaching trip and his desire to reward loyalty comes at a price. Nick Caley checked all the boxes last season when Josh McDaniels left. Kali went on to John Carroll as McDaniels and Caserio. He worked in Arkansas for Bilemma. He worked his way up from assistant striker in 2015 to tight end coach where he was for five seasons under McDaniels.
He made perfect sense as McDaniels’ successor, even if the team passed on awarding him the OC moniker. Instead, it was reported that the Patriots Callie banned from going to Las Vegas with McDaniels and opted instead to make Patricia — who was clearly overrated in the role — the actual playcaller/offensive coordinator.
What did Kaley do in 2022 that made him worthy of an interview when he wasn’t last January? Was Patricia’s Pinning “Best for the Football Team?” Because Kaley (who had an expiring contract after 2022) was the X factor? Or is it easier to do that made Belichick more comfortable?
O’Brien is clearly a highly qualified candidate. He is the leader by far due to his experience as a college and NFL head coach and as a high level OC player. But the level of experience of every other candidate – especially after last season’s decline – remains mediocre. Neither OC was in the NFL. Everyone will have a learning curve if they are hired. But the box they check—Knowing Bill Belichick and Bill appreciating the opportunity if offered to them—is the most important box.
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