After 24 Seasons As The Patriots' Head Coach, Bill Belichick Is Finally Done & Jerod Mayo Takes Over

 

    It has been quite a whirlwind week for the New England Patriots. After finishing up 4-13-their worst season since 1992 (!)-on Sunday, we waited around until Thursday morning when reports finally surfaced that arguably the greatest head coach in NFL history (Bill Belichick) was out as the Pats head coach. A few hours later that morning, New England owner Robert Kraft and Belichick had a brief but cordial press conference where they took no questions. They "mutually agreed to part ways" and a few hours after that, Kraft returned for a solo press conference where he talked a little more in depth and actually answered a few questions from the media. Fast forward to yesterday morning when linebackers coach Jerod Mayo was hastily named the new head coach of the Patriots. 

    Just like when Tom Brady left the Pats-albeit in much different circumstances-no matter who replaces Belichick has impossible shoes to fill. In case you forgot, under Bill's watch (and Brady's unparrelled success), New England went to nine Super Bowls and won six of them. I am confident that we will never see a run like that with any other NFL team for the rest of our lives, no matter how long that we live. With that said, at 71 years old and with no playoff wins since Brady left, it was clear that the Patriots needed a new voice in charge. There is no question that he can still coach at a high level but he had been an awful GM thus undercutting his ability to win on the field. Furthermore, surrounding himself with his kids, friends, friends' kids and other assistant coaches that had been with him forever, it was obvious that Bill did not have to answer to anybody besides Kraft once in a while which is not a good thing. He made it clear at the final press conference that he still wants to coach-it is not like he has any other hobbies or interests in his life-and depending on where he ends up next, he could certainly do well. Granted, he probably won't win a Super Bowl like Brady in his first season post-Patriots. 

    On the surface, there is plenty to like about Mayo (37) who is now the youngest head coach in the NFL. He is also the first black head coach in franchise history, he won a Super Bowl with the Pats and was a captain for seven of his eight years as a middle linebacker on the Patriots-the only NFL team that he ever played or coached for. The scary parts are that he has never been a head coach at any level, how much does he know or care about offense while he automatically got this promotion written into his contract last season. With huge names like Mike Vrabel, Pete Carroll, Jim Harbaugh and Nick Saban all surprisingly available, Kraft didn't have any second thoughts of opening up the process a little bit more? Things change quickly in life, why were they so anchored to Mayo? 

    Belichick's greatest gift that he left to the Patriots is the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Like he said in his final words at Gillette Stadium, the NFL is all about players and as their record indicated, the Patriots currently have a million holes to fill on both sides of the ball. However, if they can draft well and spend money in free agency, there is no reason why the team cannot be a fringe playoff contender as soon as next season if many things go right. Still, Buffalo and Miami are not going anywhere anytime soon and even the lowly Jets finished with three more wins than the Patriots this season so it will be an uphill climb to relevance let alone contention for the once model club in football. 

    This entire miserable season and basically the four years since Brady left has been a daily reminder that as Patriots fans, we had it so good for so long. Tom having success right away with the Bucs-one of the great loser franchises in sports before then-coupled with Belichick running the Pats into the ground had put an end to any question as to who was more important to the dynasty-Brady or Belchick. It has been easy to kick Bill when he has been down these last few crappy seasons but make no mistake, at his peak he was right there with any other head coach in American sports history. He was the perfect leader for Brady and the Patriots for all those years, until he was not anymore and no doubt it was harder and harder to relate to new generations of players that were so much younger than him. Regardless, we must thank Bill for all the wonderful moments in the past 24 years. There will never be another extended period of dominance like that in any of the major professional sports in the U.S. 

The Cam Newton Era Is Thankfully Over Now For The Pats With Mac Jones Being Named The Starter

 

    The 2021 NFL regular season hasn't even begun yet but the Patriots made a huge decision this morning that hopefully brings many more wins and excitement to the franchise both this year and in the near future after last year's complete flop in our first taste of life after Tom Brady. Out of nowhere, quarterback Cam Newton (who had started all three preseason games this summer) was released meaning that rookie Mac Jones will be the starter when the team opens the season a week from Sunday (September 12) at Gillette Stadium vs. the Dolphins at 4:25 p.m. New England head coach Bill Belichick proved that he can still be as ruthless as an old school mob boss since we thought that he was Cam's biggest fan left in the world. It turns out, not so much as the 15th overall pick from Alabama will become the first rookie quarterback to start for the Pats since Drew Bledsoe many moons ago in 1993. 

    Ultimiately, Newton's time here was short and pretty bizarre from start to finish. He was a late addition in free agency last summer and he started every game but one (when he had Covid-19) as New England sputtered to a 7-9 record. In the offseason, the Pats spent a ton of money to upgrade many parts of their mediocre team including two new high-priced tight ends (Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith) with the purpose of breathing some life into New England's predictable high school style offense. By all accounts, at 32 years old Cam seems like a great guy but the basic observation that quickly appeared last season-that he simply cannot throw the ball anymore-did not magically change in 2021. The fact that he is still not vaccinated yet and recently missed five days of practice after not following protocol for Covid-19 did not help his cause either in my humble opinion. We wish him well in his future endeavors but we are also extremely thankful not to have to watch him slog through another miserable year of turning the ball over and making critical mistakes that led to more losses for the Patriots. 

    Mac Jones should serve as a breath of fresh air in many ways for a fanbase that wants something to be positive about: he's only 22 years old (!!!) and he comes with Nick Saban-one of Belichick's best friends and most trusted allies-seal of approval. There were five quarterbacks drafted in the first round this year and while nobody would consider Jones to be the most electrifying or talented of that potentially special group, his main attributes (being smart, well prepared and making the correct reads) should mesh well with Belichick's club. He might never be an NFL MVP like Newton was in 2016 but at this moment, it was clear to everyone that Jones should give them a better chance to succeed from day one than Cam. In turn, it also gives fans a little boost of faith that Belichick has not competely lost his mind and he was not stubborn enough to keep running Newton out there again and again for some silly reason. 

    With all the rosters around the league being cut down to 53 active players today, there were a few other notable moves made by the Patriots: star cornerback Stephon Gilmore will start the season on the PUP (physically unable to perform) list as he continues to rehab from quad surgery meaning that he is out for at least the first six weeks while undrafted rookie kicker Quinn Nordin beat veteran Nick Folk for the starting job. New England has more than a full week of practice left before the season-opener and you know that Belichick will make good use of all that extra time to get guys like Jones and Nordin up to speed. Don't forget that beginning with this season, there is an additional game in the regular season making a winning record like 11-6 or 10-7 something that the Pats should be realistically aiming for along with a playoff spot after missing the postseason in the cursed year of 2020. 

The Patriots Kept The No. 15 Pick In The NFL Draft & Used It On Alabama Quarterback Mac Jones

 

    For the first time in his very long NFL head coaching career, Bill Belichick finally used a first-round draft pick to select a quarterback. Tonight, the Patriots had the No. 15 pick and rather than trade up, trade down or use it on a nameless lineman, they kept it which paid off as Alabama quarterback Mac Jones slid to them at just that spot. I have my doubts regarding whether Jones will make much of an impact in the National Football League but at this point, I'm ready to give anyone besides incumbent Cam Newton a shot at QB this season for the Pats. Jones became the seventh Crimson Tide alum to be selected by the Pats since 2010-hello Nick Saban-and the first quarterback taken by the Patriots in the first round since No. 1 overall pick Drew Bledsoe way back in 1993. 

    I would still love to see New England try and swing a trade with San Francisco that would bring Jimmy Garoppolo back here but at least this shows that Belichick has some semblance of a plan for the team's future at the most important position in sports. This was thought to be a draft class deep with talented quarterbacks and most teams seemed to think so as four other guys (Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance and Justin Fields) all went before Jones was picked by the Pats. Jones is a throwback in terms of style: he's a big, slow dropback passer that will rarely choose to run the ball. In many ways, he's a very poor man's Tom Brady. Still, I hope he gets some time to develop before he's thrown in there when Newton inevitably plays terrible. As for Jarrett Stidham, don't expect him to be seeing the field much at all this season (not like he did in 2020 even when Cam struggled mightily) if all goes well.  

    Jones led Alabama to a national championship last season, granted he was throwing to the Heisman Trophy winner (DeVonta Smith) and another wide receiver (for a few games at least before he got hurt)-Jaylen Waddle-who were both Top-10 picks tonight. Until recent years, Alabama QBs have not had a ton of success in the NFL but with Tua in Miami and Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia, that narrative appears to be changing for the better. With all the money that they spent in free agency this off-season, New England has made a concerted effort to ensure that 7-9 doesn't happen again in 2021 (please note that this season will have 17 regular season games so that final record is now impossible to attain). Jones seems genuinely excited to play for Belichick and if you can have success under Saban, you at least should know what to expect from Belichick who has a quite similar prickly personality. Even if Mac Jones never does much of anything for the Patriots, this was a calculated risk that they had no choice but to make. Roll Tide!

I Say That Dont'a Hightower's AFC Rookie Of The Year Campaign Starts Now

Trust me when I tell you that soon enough, you will likely fall in love with Patriots rookie linebacker Dont'a Hightower.

The stud out of the University of Alabama agreed to a four-year deal today with New England, meaning that their entire draft class (seven players) of 2012 will report to training camp on time. Ironically, the youngsters are due to arrive tomorrow in Foxborough.

Picked 25th overall in the first round, Hightower was obtained after the Pats traded up with Denver to get him. They shipped the Broncos the 31st overall pick and a fourth-round selection (126th overall) as well. That alone should tell you how intent they were on getting him since New England pretty much never trades up for anybody.

For the Crimson Tide who were BCS champions, Hightower last year was a first-team All-America selection by the Associated Press and a second-team All-SEC selection. He started 12 games for Alabama, leading them with 85 tackles (11 for a loss), four sacks, eight quarterback hits, one interception and one forced fumble.

Everyone knows that Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Alabama head coach Nick Saban are very close friends so there is no doubt that they talked about Hightower often the last few seasons and before the draft. If he wasn't that good or a complete knucklehead (doubtful since he was a captain), odds are that Saban would have let Belichick know.

He could be a bust but from what we've seen in college, Hightower has all the physical tools and attributes to be a successful NFL player. He was one of the most outstanding linebackers in the nation, at one of the best programs and in the top conference (SEC). You can't be much more prepared out of college than that. At 6-foot-3 and 270 pounds, he's a freak athlete that is big enough to play middle linebacker but fast enough to play outside linebacker. That gives Belichick a bunch of options and a major playmaking ability which is something the Patriots defense can always use.

I expect much more from him initially than New England's other first-round pick: defensive end Chandler Jones of Syracuse. Jones seems like a project whereas Hightower is polished. We shall see I guess but if you watch college football regularly and you root for the Patriots, you have to be understandably excited about Dont'a's potential.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate