I hope not. I think the end of BB's tenure has shown that you need clear separation between the two or if you are going to have a coach that is final decision maker you need a "GM" who has enough autonomy and weight in the room to push against a "I'm smarter than everyone else in the building" kind of coach who would request final say over player acquisition (like Harbaugh). And I'd rather have a coach focused on fixing the offense and bringing in other more innovative assistants and who would work in tandem with a GM, rather than the GM essentially working for the coach. There are too many things to fix for one person to be doing both jobs. The Pats need to fix and offense and special teams. They also need to shore up fundamentals. I always thought that no matter how bad a BB team was, they'd always have good fundamentals, but clearly bad teams have bad players and bad players have bad fundamentals; if they had good fundamentals they probably wouldn't be bad players.
They've already strayed from that plan. That plan had BB coaching another season at least, then Mayo, per multiple reports.
Which accounts? Not challenging your point, I'm actually interested in reading up.
There’s a difference between accelerating a plan and blowing it up completely. I just don’t think it’s Roberts personality to do so. If they do then we know the keys have been passed to the next generation.
I've seen several like this. This was just the first google hit.
The Steelers would say, "not really that important."
If the new guy was taking the job five years ago, I could see this, but I don’t think it’s really true. The team has been largely mediocre to bad in the past four years, I don’t think the immediate expectations will be that high.
This isn't really a counter to that, but a good article:
My assumption here is that the Pats are a stable organization and won't Geno / Darnold / Wilson their QB. Of course, that could end up being untrue.
There are multiple posts in this thread by people worrying about hiring a coach before a GM, so yes others are concerned about this.
I agree, but the timing is the issue. If they drag there feet finding a GM, they risk losing Mayo and Vrabel to other teams. I’m sure both would wait ask long as possible to interview, but both want a HC job.
Please explain, those of you claiming this. Legit curious about that logic.
I guess I need to read better, because I missed those. Thanks for pointing it out.
That would be the absolutely most head exploding move that Kraft could possibly make. Move on from the 71 year old absolutely most accomplished NFL HC ever to hire a 72 year old coach with a good track record but who failed loudly here in the late 1990s. We're moving on from age to someone older, from the most acclaimed (by our fan base) coach we've ever had to one of the most hated. The victor in the Malcolm Butler game to the loser.
This is interesting me considering the defense has been pretty good. Is it just that much talent on that side of the ball or does Bill help him out a ton?
I assumed the 1st was sacrasm. But it *is* interesting that Kraft's 2 HC hires turned out to be pretty fucking good coaches.
the fan base wanted the GOAT who delivered 9 Super Bowl appearances in 20 years tossed aside after last season after a couple of mediocre non-playoff years. I don’t think the anti-BB crowd will accept 3-4 more years of missing the playoffs and 3rd/4th place AFCE finishes. The BB supporters certainly won’t accept a non-competitive team for too long either
I think if he doesn't win 7 games minimum next year people will grumble, if they aren't in the playoffs by year 2 Kraft will get antsy in the media.
My line of thinking here is that he’s part of the Belichick/Patriots family. He’s a proven head coach. As far as I know his players like him.
Maybe. An advantage for the new guy is that the "mess" BB left is only on one side of the ball.
Kinda hard to parse out who does what, and to credit or blame, on that side of the ball between Bill, Steve and Mayo.
Carroll turned out to be a good coach but he was not the right fit for the Pats and he certainly wasn’t a good coach in 1997. I’d view him and Grier as a swing and miss from Kraft.
People will grumble if the 4th string QB doesn't get enough reps in the 1st exhibition game. If the new coach is able to hear the grumbling, he'll be gone before Halloween.
I mean, that definitely wasn't the goal. Every leak indicated that Kraft wanted to keep it in the "Patriot Way" family. The goal was to move on from Bill as the ultimate power over football. I would guess Jonathan plans to expand his power base into the football side a bit more.
I dont think we should get too hung up on the connection to BB being irretrievably at odds with going in a different direction. It's logical, of course. But seems way too simplistic.
I think the mess could extend to defense. BB the GM had a knack for finding players who he knew he could get to play well in his scheme and got the most out of a lot of castoffs, retreads and undrafted/lower round guys. The sum of the whole often was more than the sum of the parts.
How much more "ground up" does it get than hiring a guy that has never done it before?
Eh. I think what they're going to build from the ground up is a new GM and player evaluation shop. Find a QB. Add talent. Not sure that keeping the culture of the team will be seen as a bad thing.
And the biggest problem in that mess was easily identifiable. As were the surrounding ones. And they have the #3 pick in the draft. If the offense doesn't improve in a big way, the villagers will riot.
Thanks! Part of what I see as a problem is that Mayo has been a good soldier, and a token interview with Kraft resulting in Vrabel getting the job is not going to appease Mayo. Does Kraft want the optics of letting go of the GOAT and then shivving a member of the family who has been so loyal? With all the Flores stuff going on in the background (his case against the NFL, not talk of coming to NE)?
