And then they traded Branch mid season to the Seahawks for a first rounder 
, causing him to immediately lose two SPD points in madden.
1 Like
Belichick made some great moves brining in Moss and Revis for example, but I think those were only possible because those guys wanted to play with Brady. He was also great at putting players in position to maximize what they could do and minimize what they could not. I still think their rosters were weaker than their record shows and were elevated by Bradyâs play and leadership and Belichickâs coaching.
I do agree he was better than most about letting guys go and not getting stuck with bad contracts for older players, but also let some guys go who should have been kept like Chandler Jones
Brady played 20 years for that franchise and had 4 Pro Bowl weapons.
Dillon for basically 1 year.
Moss for basically 2 years.
Welker
Gronk
The one year he had two Pro Bowl level guys, he had the greatest QB season ever, up to today.
A lot of advanced tracking hates Edelman - he was poor in separation and drops. He had just 3 seasons with over 1k yards, no pro bowls. There is no one - not even Patriot fans - that ever thought of him as a top 10 receiver. Would you honestly have ever included him in the top 15?
Gronk was great, absolutely - highest apex of any Tight End. He had just 4 season where he had had over 800 receiving yards.
Deion Branch was their #1 receiver for several years. He had exactly 1 season where he had more than 850 yards. Belichick traded him, and Bradyâs number 1 receiver the next season was Reche Caldwell.
2006 was embarrassing - his opening day receivers:
Reche Caldwell - never caught another NFL pass after 2006
Troy Brown - never caught another NFL pass after 2006
Doug Gabriel - never caught another NFL pass after 2006
Chad Jackson - caught 1 more pass after 2006 (he did get a serious knee injury)
2013 his two outside WRs were Aaron Dobson (16 NFL catches after that season) and Kenbrell Thompkins (38 NFL catches after that season).
The last Super Bowl winning year, he had broken down Gronk, 32 year old Edelman, and journeymen after that.
The last year in New England:
33 year old Edelman (21 NFL catches after that year)
Phillip Dorsett (27 NFL catches after that year)
Mo Sanu (32 NFL catches after that year)
NâKeal Harry - noted bust.
And then two undrafted free agent WRs.
Thereâs trade offs in the NFL - not paying for good outside threats allowed the Patriots to be stronger at other positions. But - look at what the NFL understands now, almost unanimously: WR is an extremely important and valuable position. Other than 2007, Belichick didnât understand it.
4 Likes
I really, really disagree with this. Look at 2007. Look what the offense did when it had someone that could actually run. Or the one Brandin Cooks year. He averaged 16.6 yards per catch, way higher than he ever did in the dome with the Saints.
The offense succeeded with shorter stuff because it had to. Itâs not designed for it. If they had guys that could run, theyâd have thrown it deep.
Agree with Cornboy NEâs receiving talent was an embarrassment for most of Bradyâs tenure. Belichick is either god awful at evaluation WR talent or ran awful in the draft.
Edelman was so great in the playoffs though.
1 Like
Ok, well, by design or by necessity, the bottom line it didnât often matter. They had a really good coaching staff that figured out how to draw up plays. Saints were similar for a number of years with Brees in that they always schemed guys open.
I love Edelman - great in the playoffs, tough as hell, WIM off the charts, great blocker. But I donât think he was ever a top 15 WR.
Heâs Top 5 in my heart.
I just want to be clear that the âreally good coaching staffâ has had 0 success without Brady. Combined, Belichick, McDaniels, Weis, OâBrien have had 2 seasons with top 8 NFL offenses without Brady, and thereâs a lot of cumulative seasons there. OâBrien had both Deshaun Watson and Deandre Hopkins at the same time for several seasons, played 9 games in a dome, and still couldnât manage it.
To put that in perspective - the much maligned Mike McCarthy, by himself, has done it 3 times in 8 years without Rodgers/Favre.
2 Likes
I donât think Russ is broken. I think he just doesnât care about football and wants to big time everyone. Sports media smoothbrains saying this was a gReAt MoVe (lol) for Denver and that Payton is the new sheriff in townâŚto lay down the law on the guy they gave $300M and a personal office to. Yeah good luck with that. This one has 5/5 popcorn potential. 
5 Likes
Russ has a personal office in Denver? lol.
Thankfully, he was allowed to keep it by (barely) scoring more TDs than his house has bathrooms.
2 Likes
Aaron Hernandez was pretty good for the Pats also until the obvious happened.
What Kelce has done is absurd. 9 straight seasons over 800 yards, 7 in a row over 1k. Getting hammered over the middle game after game.
I think of Kelce and Gronk kind of like Roger Clemens v. Pedro Martinez. Pedroâs absolute peak was higher, but I canât argue with someone who think Clemens was better because he did it so many goddamn seasons in a row.
Kelceâs durability is insane. He is only one year younger than Gronk.
1 Like
A personal office, a personal trainer, a personal masseuse, a personal QB coach, and like a half-dozen parking spaces for his entourage.
1 Like
Belichick was terrible before Brady and surprise surprise is back to being terrible again after Brady.
One Killer Trick To Be A Hall Of Fame Coach/GM
(fluke draft the greatest player in the history of the sport at the most important position in all team sports)
Kelce is a first ballot HOF for sure, but still maybe not the best TE in Chiefs history.
Regarding Gronk, itâs the blocking that puts Gronk over Kelce or Gonzalez in terms of peak value.
1 Like
Belichick did actually correctly realize Brady was better than Bledsoe and start him early on despite most of the media at the time thinking it was a mistake.
And itâs hard to look at some of the playoff runs especially in the 2001-2006 era without giving much of the credit to the defensive gameplans. To me thereâs legit questions about how much of that is spygate influenced, or what other shenanigans he might have been pulling, but you canât give Brady credit for shutting down the Colts in 2003 and 2004
I do think if you gave Brady to a guy like Marty Schottenheimer, Bill Cowher, or Tom Coughlin they would be on the Mount Rushmore of NFL coaches if not universally regarded as the GOAT, but it doesnât mean Belichick is terrible