Would Patriots Fans Consider Trading Bill Belichick for 3 First Round Picks?
Gary Myers, NYDN – Imagine this scene after Bill Belichick presumably wins his sixth Super Bowl on Feb. 4.
He steps up the podium the morning after Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis and announces in his trademark monotone, “We’re on to the Giants.”
Now, granted a lot has to happen for it to even reach the point for Kraft and Giants co-owner John Mara to have a compensation conversation. … “You think Robert Kraft became a millionaire and runs the best organization in the league and he’s just going to lay down and say, ‘We’re going to let you have him?’” one long-time NFL executive said Monday.
The price?
“Three No. 1 draft picks,” he said. …
Three No. 1 picks for a 65-year-old coach? “Age doesn’t matter,” the source said.
Right off the top let me say I’m not going to scream “Fake News!” here. Gary Myers is not ESPN. By way of full disclosure, I had him on my old WEEI podcast to talk about his Brady vs Manning book and he wrote an endorsement on the back cover of From Darkness to Dynasty (available wherever fine books are sold), which is a factor. But that aside he’s also got a solid reputation and I can’t ever remember him throwing unsubstantiated garbage at the Patriots like so many other clickbait chasers. Plus I know from talking to him he was on the side of the angels on Deflategate.
I have no doubt Myers has a “long-time NFL executive” telling him that Belichick’s second choice after New England would be – totally hypothetically – the Giants. I mean, you just had to see that clip from “A Football Life” where he visited the old locker room in the Meadowlands and his insides turned to soft, gooey caramel to know that the franchise still holds a special place in his heart. It’s not going to happen. It’s just conjecture. Fantasy. No different than if I say my second choice after The Irish Rose is Kate Beckinsale. To paraphrase the source, you think Mr. Kraft became a billionaire and runs the best organization in all of sports by letting his most important asset get within a hundred million miles of the end of his contract?
But just to play the game and for the sake of the mental exercise, should any Patriots fan be willing to let Belichick go for the price of three No. 1 picks?
Believe me, it’s not a question I take lightly. The cheap and easy thing would be to say “Hell NO!” and say maybe if the Giants throw in Manhattan and bring me Roger Goodell in chains I might think about it. But three No. 1s is almost tempting. The kind of draft treasure that, in the right hands, could build a dynasty. In the way the ’90s Cowboys were built on the eight picks they got for Herschel Walker.
But ulitmately, it’s not enough. Not for Bill Belichick. And I’m being as objective as I’m physically able to here. Consider what the going rate has been for some other “franchise” NFL people:
–Bill Parcells. To get him in 1997, the Jets had to give the Pats their 3rd & 4th, their 2nd the following year and their 1st the year after that. And New England went from 11-5 and a Super Bowl trip to 10-6, 9-7 and then 8-8.
–Robert Griffin III. To move up four spots, the Redskins gave the Rams the 6th overall pick, their 2nd rounder plus their next two 1st rounders.
–Carson Wentz. To move up six spots in Round 1 the Eagles gave the Browns the 8th overall, their 3rd and 4th, their 1st the following year and 2nd the year after that.
Given that that has been the market for other potential franchise-changing figures plus everything Belichick means to this organization, three 1s not nearly enough. He’s more than the coach. More than the GM. He’s responsible for the entire culture. Building a consistent winner out of mid-round picks, undrafted free agents and other teams’ castoffs. Maintaining coaching and scouting staffs by replenishing them year after year with aerospace engineers and guys hired away from Google. And sustaining the excellence through the kind of personnel turnover that has torn down every other NFL dynasty.
You can’t replace that with draft picks. Not even three high ones. He’s simply too important. There is only one of him. He’s not just some George Lucas who lost his fastball so Disney replaced him with Kathleen Kennedy and they’re milling money. He’s as indispensable as anyone in sports has ever been. And now that I think about all that, Manhattan wouldn’t get it done either. Belichick for Life. We Stand United.