They don’t have to announce anything if he’s sticking around. He’s under contract. He can just keep showing up for work.
BB open to relinquishing GM duties?
- Thread starter boca
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Why would it take weeks? That seems like misreporting or people making shit up.
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Here is the problem. There is zero evidence that any "reports" (Curran, Volin, Bedard, the idiot who did not get hired as a scout, etc. all wrote clickbait, unsourced BS) are factual or substantiated. There is nothing from the team whatsoever aside from BB saying yesterday morning he will meet with Kraft multiple times. Why are you inclined to believe these "reports"?
I'm not sure why it would take weeks. I continue to believe that it is an incredibly tough call for Kraft and that a final decision has not yet been made on BB's future. But I expect them to make a decision one way or another in the next week or so, I think they have to. Given the rumors swirling I do think they should come out and say something if he's coming back, but I wouldn't be shocked if they say nothing.
Nothing's changed. it's just that
I said why I'm inclined to believe my position. Why do you believe yours?
They can't wait unless they know 100% and unequivocally that his replacement is Mayo. I would hope the guys on any list they have are in demand guys. You can't wait.
Agreed and if they are making a change I would hope they are going to have a process and bring in a bunch of guys for interview/looks. I'd hate to see them settle on Mayo without seeing what else is out there (I don't really have a strong opinion on Mayo one way or another, I would just hope they aren't going to just hand him the job).
Also if they are replacing BB the GM don't they have to go out and hire a GM first and then let him have at least a voice in terms of who is hired to coach? Bringing in a new GM but sticking him with a coach he didn't pick and has no relationship with seems less than ideal.
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I think we'll know by Thursday at the latest. That'll give Robert and Jonathan a few days to meet with Bill and come to a final decision. It's around the same timeline as last year with the Mayo/OC search announcement.
I don't see how it could possibly take weeks. The hiring cycle is underway, teams are now putting in requests and scheduling video meetings with various candidates. In person can't happen until after the divisional round but if the Patriots are moving off Bill, they need to be lining up interviews. The longer they wait the less candidates there will be.
I think we'll know by Thursday at the latest. That'll give Robert and Jonathan a few days to meet with Bill and come to a final decision. It's around the same timeline as last year with the Mayo/OC search announcement.
I think that if there was a chance of BB sticking around, someone in the know would be saying it, that’s all.
Breer had some suggestions this week
https://www.nbcsportsboston.com/nfl/new-england-patriots/which-gm-candidates-could-patriots-pursue-bill-belichick-exits/576802/
It's pretty amazing that every single leak, supposition and suggestion on coach and GM is exclusively guy who were in NE during the dynasty.
But wouldn’t the opposite be true as well? Like if he was properly done, and this is some performance art, we’d ‘know’ not just suspect?
Bill got the first salvo out….‘what? I already lean on so many people! Sure if a decision needs to be made, I have final say, but I’m up for anything!’
Time is actually on Krafts side here: Mayo is in waiting, the OC and DC are in place, GMs are knocking around, and Bills kids are (most likely?) under contract for next year with the Pats.
Even so, I don’t see the endgame if they don’t plan to fire him almost immediately. They can’t seriously be holding out for contract relief or compensation…right? Each day makes me think its more likely he stays.
Or . . . and bear with me here, because it is a radical idea that nobody has talked about at all (except for a whole bunch of us), Kraft actually, legitimately, has not made a final decision yet.
It has been two days. I can see how Kraft fully expected BB to coach at least one more year but now is reconsidering due to the craptastic football we all had to witness this year, the draft position they have, and the recent track record of BB picking offensive talent. But he also has a 20+ year relationship with the GOAT coach who brought him 6 Lombardis and who he sided with in a show down with a QB who he talked about like he was his son, so firing him might not be that easy of a decision to get to. He might just need a couple of days to figure out what he wants to do here.
All of that said, he better make a decision sooner rather than later either way.
It has been two days. I can see how Kraft fully expected BB to coach at least one more year but now is reconsidering due to the craptastic football we all had to witness this year, the draft position they have, and the recent track record of BB picking offensive talent. But he also has a 20+ year relationship with the GOAT coach who brought him 6 Lombardis and who he sided with in a show down with a QB who he talked about like he was his son, so firing him might not be that easy of a decision to get to. He might just need a couple of days to figure out what he wants to do here.
All of that said, he better make a decision sooner rather than later either way.
I really don't understand the rationale behind firing Bill and keeping continuity with Bill's guys. Bill is a stand-in for a specific philosophy, if you want a break from that, it should be a clean one. Otherwise, just keep Bill. What, is his personality the issue? Was he an impediment to the development of the guys who worked under him (who you now believe could do a better job)? It's like these pieces have been written in an alternate universe in which Bill is retiring after guiding the Patriots to an 11-6 season.
From a PR and fan perspective, I’d imagine that replacing an icon with Belichick with another well known and well liked player from the good old days is probably appealing. A guy like Vrabel is obviously someone that ownership knows and likes, which always helps.
any 82 year old man that still goes to massage parlors and participates should automatically be given twice the number of super bowl rings that his team has earned
the rationale seems to be to keep a Bill style defense since that part of the team is still functioning well, with a better offense (whether that’s player personnel decisions, staffing, scheme, whatever it might be). How Vrabel fits that, im not sure though as his offenses with Tennesee have been underwhelming
Hiring someone from the dynasty (Vrabel, Mayo, Josh McD) striikes me as Van Halen with Gary Sharone. If you're going to fire BB, just be done with it and start anew. Don't do a half measure and try to hold onto the past.
Agree completely. If the primary reason for moving on from BB is his failure with the offense since Brady left, why does anyone want Vrabel or Mayo? Two defensive guys, who between them have no track record of developing a QB/putting together a top level offense. I’m fine with Josh coming back as a coordinator or position coach, but I think he’s shown, twice now, he’s not really head coach material. I want Bill to come back. But if they are moving on from him, an entirely new approach makes much more sense to me, than bringing in BB lite does.
The argument is that Bill's coaching staff on the offensive side has been a complete clusterfuck the last two years. What appeared to be remedying it this year - hiring BOB - turned out to be a half measure when he didn't let BOB hire his own coaches and didn't have any sort of coherence among the offensive coaches per the big Herald article. So either Mayo or Vrabel presumably wouldn't be particularly involved in the offense and tell BOB (or maybe Arthur Smith in the case of Vrabel?) to hire a coherent staff and see if that fixes part of the problem.
With Mayo, the descriptions I've seen of him (grains of salt alert) paint him in such extraordinary terms that he might be one of those leader-types that can excel as a HC if they're smart and secure enough to let others do the jobs that aren't exact fits with their past experience. Among successful coaches, Mike Tomlin and Pete Carroll come to mind.
I think the hiring someone from the dynasty is very much a "Patriot Way" buyin from Kraft. I think he really does believe that there is something special there beyond Bill and that it will be his legacy. It's pretty common to try to hold onto the past, without a good idea of what in the past actually made you successful. The Dynasty rested on Belichick and Brady, you can;t just plug someone else into the Belichick role, any more than just plugging in a QB for Brady without adjustments works.
Maybe Smith comes with Vrabel, but supposedly one of the reasons Vrabel is available is his staff decisions and unwillingness to make changes or bring in people.
Most assistants are hired by the head coach. Not sure why the Herald made a big deal of a standard practice across the league.
Tomlin and Caroll are very good coaches but it should be noted that the Steelers haven’t won a playoff game in 7 years and Seattle has won 1 since their loss to the Patriots in the Super Bowl almost a decade ago. They’ve both struggled with staff management on the offensive side of the ball which has held them back.
Not taking anything away from them, as they’re among the top coaches in the league. But it feels like the same position we’re in with Belichick. They’ll go as far as the defensive talent can carry them unless they have a franchise QB and plenty of talent on offense.
If the problem the Pats are trying to solve is a dysfunctional offense, I don’t know how a coach who is defensive minded and entirely dependent upon his OC and GM to put together a competent offense is moving the needle in Foxboro unless they get a GM who has a proven track record of being able to assemble quality offenses and an OC who is a lot better than the types that Vrabel, Carroll and Tomlin have often had.
Give those coaches a good QB and their offenses look a lot better. Prescott, Hurts, Josh Allen, Tua, et al, are far better than the QB's Vrabel, Carroll, or Tomlin have had to work with the past couple of seasons. The idea that a head coach needs to be a former offense coach seems more like confirmation bias than anything, and focusing solely on former OC's may be an example skating to where the puck was given the recent falloff in scoring, yards gained, etc.