Dante Scarnecchia Says Belichick Could 'Compromise' on DeAndre Hopkins' Practice Habits
Author's Note: I've used this Tweet in virtually every post I've written about DeAndre Hopkins and will continue to until I will his signing with the Patriots into existence. If anyone covering any of the other dozen or so franchises he's been linked to has a better video of their head coach/GM/football deity shamelessly romancing Hopkins, they're of course free to use it. But none exists. I'm proud to die on this hill.
As we reach Day 5 of Hopkins Watch, the mood around Foxboro is still tense.
By all accounts, the two days Hopkins spent talking to the Patriots, getting a workout with the Patriots, and meeting some Patriots:
… were all positive. Including, though not limited to, this coded message from the Pats best player over the last two years/brand ambassador/defacto Assistant to the General Manager:
The fact a deal hasn't gotten done yet is no reason for alarm. Despite my desire to lock both sides in a room like a sequestered jury and not let anyone leave until they've signed on the line which is dotted, according to all the reporting, no one was expecting anything to happen right away. So the positivity and optimism will have to do for now.
But there does remain one outstanding issue that I mentioned at the beginning of the month, when reports surfaced that Hopkins approach to practicing doesn't line up with Bill Belichick and Bill O'Brien's philosophy on the subject:
But expecting Belichick and O'Brien to make an exception for a guy who multiple sources around the league insist is not a big Practice Guy is a big ask. A very big ask. Despite his obvious talent and his impressive numbers. It's hard to imagine they'd make allowances for a guy who's great on Sundays, but sort of indifferent to Tuesday through Friday. I'm not claiming they've never given dispensation to a veteran who needs a recovery day. And there have been plenty of stories about a team captain like Devin McCourty or Matthew Slater approaching Belichick to say the guys are exhausted and him easing back on the workload when it's necessary. But investing tens of millions in a player who's going to turn 31 this week while giving him special privileges the rest of the roster doesn't is the opposite of what people outside the building (never inside) call The Patriots Way.
That doesn't mean it won't happen. Again, there's too much talk here for this to be a total nonstarter. But it's going to take a ton of compromise on all sides. Egos will have to be put aside. Hatchets will have to be buried. Swords beaten into plowshares. Bygones made by gone.
Now today we find out the possibility of a compromise is very much in play. At least according to the World's Foremost Authority on how Belichick operates and practicing guys hard:
Source - [Dante] Scarnecchia believes Belichick likely addressed the issue, and came to an understanding when he met with Hopkins Thursday. Per the MMQB’s Albert Breer, Belichick and Hopkins had quite a bit of “one-on-one” time together. …
In Scar’s view, it was probably one of the first orders of business on Belichick’s agenda, getting a handle on Hopkins’ practice habits, or lack of such.
Belichick wouldn’t move ahead with any contract pitch unless that issue was resolved.
“He would never take that on, and not broach that subject,” Scarnecchia told MassLive….
Belichick has made some allowances and concessions before, but not with someone who habitually tries to skirt practice - star or not. …
Scarnecchia stressed this type of issue has to be discussed ahead of time, and resolved. And knowing Belichick, he wouldn’t leave that to chance. He’ll lay out his expectations, and that’s the end of it. If there’s some pushback, it’s possible Belichick would agree on some type of compromise. …
“I think there could be room for compromise, and as I said, that’s something that has to be discussed now, rather than later,” said Scarnecchia. …
Off the top of his head, Scarnecchia couldn’t think of a time where Belichick bent all that much for any player when it comes to attending practice.
Although, the former offensive line guru did hear former Patriots tight end Christian Fauria tell his WEEI audience that Belichick was somewhat lenient with him relative to how much he practiced given some issues with his legs. …
That said, with the two sides now weighing their options, and Hopkins leaving without a deal reached, Scarnecchia is sure that Belichick and Hopkins came to some kind of understanding on the topic before Hopkins left the building.
“Whatever it is, it is,” said Scarnecchia. “And, whether you think it’s good, or I think it’s good, or bad, or whatever, it’s not going to make any difference. They both agreed on it. And that’s what’s going to happen.”
My sentiments exactly. And in Scarnecchia's case, it's coming from a guy who was such a demanding preparation junkie that the steep hill at the far end of the Patriots practice field where he had his O-lineman run gassers in the heat of summer is called Dante's Peak. As Herb Brooks put it in Miracle, "Legs feed the wolf, gentlemen."
So assuming the reports that Hopkins prefers to save his legs to feed him on game days, it's not necessarily a deal killer. Reasonable people can talk things through and meet in the middle. And given that Hopkins and O'Brien were able to slap matching COEXIST stickers on their bumpers for six extremely productive seasons in Houston, there's every reason to think they're familiar enough with one another's approach enough to draw up an Memorandum of Understanding on how to prepare during the week. And since Belichick trusts O'Brien enough that he's taking a hands off approach and delegating the offense entirely to him, you can easily see him signing off on whatever they work out.
One very motivating factor in all this is that Hopkins would be an absolute game-changer in a huge area of need. Factoring in that Pro Football Focus (paywall) grades the Patriots current wide receiver depth chart 29th in the league, ahead of only Tennessee, Carolina and Houston:
Overall, it’s just not a group that strikes much fear in the eyes of defensive coordinators. Only [DeVante] Parker and [Juju] Smith-Schuster earned a 70.0-plus receiving grade in 2022.
Hopkins is the kind of guy you make some concessions to. Particularly if trust is not issue. And as Scar points out, there's no way they had him around for two full days for one-on-one meetings with the head coach and didn't get an iron clad agreement on what his work schedule would be once he signs. If he signs. Which he has to. For all our sakes. It can't happen soon enough. And I'll keep posting that Tweet until it does.