The Patriots’ free fall has some around the NFL wondering what the future holds for Bill Belichick.
The Athletic spoke to four anonymous NFL executives for thoughts on the state of the Patriots, who were embarrassed at home by the Saints on Sunday, 34-0, and are 1-4 after being outscored 72-3 over their last two games.
One of the executives advocated for the Patriots moving on from Belichick.
“The transition from Brady to where they are at now is such an indictment,” one of the execs said. “Their best move is to bring in a young offensive coach with a new GM and start fresh. You let the new offensive coach determine whether Mac can be saved. They need real change. They gotta get out of this.”
Sunday’s loss marked only the second time the Patriots have been shut out at home under Belichick; they lost to the Bills, 16-0, in Foxborough in Week 4 of the 2016 season.
The executive who said the Patriots need a coaching change argued that if Belichick wants to survive, he needs to get one of the top quarterbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Mac Jones doesn’t look like the answer as he’s been benched late in each of the last two games.
On the flip side, two of the executives argued that Belichick just needs help, with his coaching and executive pipeline not what it once was.
“The idea that all Bill needs is help is pretty compelling,” one of the execs told The Athletic. “Bill always had a development system for coaches and personnel people, including people like Caserio, who coached wide receivers and then, next thing you know, he is director of player personnel. My question is, where is the next Caserio? Are we going to declare in 2023 that this is it, Bill needs help, and he can’t go to his farm and get the people he needs?”
The problem for New England may lie within the retention of current players and the ability to appeal to new players.
“Bill is brilliant and provides a lot of value,” one exec said. “He needs help with player acquisition. The question is, will he accept it or fight it? He’s going to have to make sacrifices to get that all-time record for wins.”
A different executive wondered if the Patriots just aren’t appealing to outside coaches anymore.
“Who would take a job in personnel there and think that they have real power?” a fourth exec said. “How do you get somebody? I’m wondering if that is why they ended up with Patricia and Judge a year ago, and Bill O’Brien now. Maybe nobody else wanted the jobs.”
Despite the noise surrounding the future of this team, Patriots captain Deatrich Wise shared an optimistic remark about the current status of his team.
“We’re still a great team,” the defensive lineman told reporters. “We just have got to keep working on a few small things. I know I keep saying that, but I believe in our team. I believe in our offense. I believe in our defense and our special teams. We have a lot of great guys who are mentally strong and motivated to keep improving.”