How is one of the most successful franchises in NFL history that has a gigantic, gaping hole at the quarterback position not even mentioned as a possible landing spot for an elite QB that is suddenly and unexpectedly on the trade block? Whether it was Deshaun Watson, Matthew Stafford, Carson Wentz, and now Russell Wilson the Patriots don’t seem to be in on any of them. Regardless of what you think of each and everyone of those guys, all of them have played at an MVP level yet the Pats have no interest. I know in New England we have somehow fetishized “value” and take pride in our team not overpaying for anything. Well, sometimes you need to overpay a little bit or you get stuck driving a ’95 Civic with cigarette holes in the armrests because you don’t wanna pay for a premium for a gently used 2018 SUV with leather seats.
This team has a lot of holes so understandably Bill Belichick isn’t doing cartwheels when thinking about having to trade 2-4 first rounders for a quarterback. Yes, Russell Wilson will turn 33 next season so thats a consideration as well. But the larger point to be made is there have been some solid to excellent QBs on the market this offseason and there hasn’t been a single peep about the Pats. Are they really that against overpaying to solidify the most important position in sports? Well…probably yes, considering they let Tom Brady walk out the door rather than give the man an extension and some roster input. And Tom Brady these other guys are not.
But maybe it’s something worse…has the allure of the Patriots gone out the door with TB12?
It was widely reported that Stafford specifically said he would not play in New England and we all called him a puss for it. But Adam Schefter also reported that “the Cowboys, Saints, Raiders, and Bears are the only teams Wilson would consider.” So if the Pats don’t want to dump a handful of first rounders into one position I don’t necessarily agree with it, but I understand. However, if it’s more of players simply not wanting to come here then that’s a much larger issue.
Above all else, I just would like to see some semblance of a plan from Belichick. Whether that’s going out and bringing back the prodigal son in Jimmy G, trading up in the draft to get a guy like Trey Lance, or bringing on a bridge QB like Marcus Mariota and then drafting another QB late. Something tangible to build towards. But bringing back Cam Newton on a veteran minimum contract after he threw 8 touchdowns last year is not a plan. That’s just allowing your environment to dictate your actions. It’s time to make a move.
Tom Brady getting day drunk on the river, tossing the Lombardi Trophy from boat to boat is giving me all sorts of FOMO while I sit at my desk with a space heater freezing my ass off wishing the Patriots could find players like that. Either way, the must have t-shirt of 2021 has arrived. Buy Now!
In what has been the absolutely worst kept secret, Deshaun Watson and the Texans appear to be done as the Pro Bowl QB has officially requested a trade. I mean what did the Texans expect? They continuously bungled personnel and front office decisions and then tell their best player they’ll include him in decisions such as the hiring of the next GM. And then they hire Nick Caserio, who despite the past interest between both sides is someone who wasn’t actually on the list of the candidates their highly publicized search committee put together. Even worse, the move came at the behest of Petyr Baelish AKA Jack Easterby himself. I wrote about how bad things had gotten with Easterby in the fold last month and then Sports Illustrated wrote their second hit piece in just over a month absolutely demolishing the guy. Then the team tells Watson they’ll include him in the process of hiring the next head coach. And they completely ignore Watson’s request to interview Chiefs innovative Offensive Coordinator Eric Bieniemy, only interviewing him after it came out how pissed the QB was. A terrible look. So last night the Texans hire 65-year-old David Culley who’s never been an Offensive Coordinator in the NFL. Then this morning Schefty was promptly announcing Watson’s trade request to make it all official.
Deshaun Watson at this point:
So Watson is going to get traded it’s just a matter of where and how much will it cost. Trading for a 3x Pro Bowl QB who is coming off an MVP caliber season and is still just 25-years-old is going to get EXPENSIVE.
But would you rather the Patriots try and find their next QB in the draft? With the departure of Caserio, who was Belichick’s right hand man in football ops and scouting for the last several years, I am even less confident in the Patriots finding elite talent. Now in the next breath it must be addressed that Caserio did in fact go to run the show in Houston where he is seemingly going to have to trade the best QB in franchise history as his first move. So does that familiarity between the two sides work in their favor or does it immediately kneecap the Patriots’ chances because Caserio doesn’t want to look like he’s doing his old boss a favor?
Another aspect to consider is Watson has a full no-trade clause, which is pretty rare in the NFL, so it will require not only making the trade but convincing the player too. This ain’t three years ago. New England isn’t exactly an enticing place for a player to join these days. With no tight ends to speak of and a receiver core that ranges from undrafted overachiever to first round bust, why would Deshaun want to come here? It’s basically the same situation he’s currently in.
Except the coach and the owner.
That’s their only shot. After years in the clown show that is Houston, he could come in and play for the best coach in the history of the game. Maybe, as was mentioned in that same SI article, Watson really, genuinely longs for a winning culture like he had back in Clemson. Well if that’s true, there is no better place than New England. Just a couple of years removed from their last Super Bowl win and actively looking for the next young guy to take the mantle of the most successful team in NFL history, with a Hall of Fame coach, and a well respected and beloved owner. That could be enticing to Deshaun Watson.
Now of course this all assumes the Jets, the Dolphins, or even the Jaguars don’t value Watson as much as I do and bow out of throwing a bunch of first rounders at Houston. Because the offers those teams can make would blow the Pats out of the water. Granted the Patriots are sitting at No. 15 and are unlikely to have any (according to draft “experts”) elite franchise QBs fall to them so I’m more than willing to trade that pick. But if you’re the Patriots you just got punched in the head with the reminder that if you don’t have an elite QB you are cooked right out of the gate. After 20 years of consistent play from a first ballot Hall of Famer under center it’s easy to forget that not every team has been so fortunate. So if you’re Belichick you should be calling the Texans right now telling them pick what you want and send over the paper work. Whether that’s 3 or even 4 first rounders I’m doing that 100% of the time. A franchise QB is just that valuable and yes the Pats need to fill some holes around the player, but thats something you worry about after bringing him in. With a ton of cap space to work with they could find a Tight End and a Receiver to fill things out alongside Watson pretty quick.
Realistically there’s not really any chance of landing Deshaun Watson so I’m just kind of daydreaming right now, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’d trade everything but the kitchen sink for him. Hell, throw that in there too.
There has been rampant speculation the last week or so that Julian Edelman may be calling it a career after a rather innocuous tweet, but hey the Patriots aren’t playing in January for the first time in forever so people are bored and reading more into things than they normally would. Despite missing the last 10 games of the season due to knee surgery, Edelman came out today and squashed any rumors of him retiring just yet. If you’ve been paying attention over the last decade or so, it’s hard to imagine him going out on Injured Reserve. With that being said, that time is coming sooner than later, so let’s take a look at some of the key factors that led to his return.
1.) Edelman has 1 year left on his contract
Despite being beat to all hell over the years, the guy just loves to ball. So with at least one year left where a team wants him to play football for them, I can’t see Edelman saying no to that. Whether he probably should retire or not with his long term health in mind is a different question. I know he’s pretty far behind Stanley Morgan in terms of Touchdowns and Receiving Yards (and games played), but with his 3 Super Bowl rings, his reliability on the field, his Jerry Rice-esque playoff stats, and his laundry list of clutch plays, Edelman is already the greatest receiver in Patriots history if you ask me. He’s also only 52 receptions behind Wes Welker for the all-time Patriots record so that could factor into him playing another season or two.
2.) Does Edelman want to retire a Patriot or rejoin Tom Brady?
In what seems to be a popular move these days a lot of former Patriots are finding their way down to Tampa. Whether thats through a pseudo-retirement like Gronk, which still doesn’t sit well with me, or even guys who only had a cup of coffee, albeit a wildly successful cup, with the Pats like Antonio Brown. There’s also speculation that more could join him like impending free agent James White, who would be an oh so perfect fit in Tampa. So with Edelman announcing he’ll be back that would seem to confirm he’s not going to try and force his way out of town to rejoin Tom in Florida. Now if he’s healthy and Tom is still playing, he could link up with him after *next* season, but those are two big ifs. Mostly because Edelman’s health is never a certainty, but also because Brady only signed a 2-year contract so he could actually, finally, be retired at that point.
But I think this is missing the entire point.
While Julian Edelman clearly reveres Tom Brady, people seem to forget how much he genuinely loves playing for Bill Belichick. If you’ve seen Edelman’s documentary or read any of his life story then you know Edelman’s dad was a Hall of Fame hard ass who worked Jules’ to the bone growing up and helped mold him into the guy he is today. And I genuinely believe that is something that Edelman not only appreciates, but he craves it. Not to mention Belichick is the only guy that gave Edelman a shot coming out of college and again putting him in a position to succeed in the NFL.
Plus few people have embraced living in Boston more than Edelman has. The guy still lives in the Back Bay, rides his skateboard around town, and is known to pop into random spots like Hojoko in Fenway for a burger. So yes the Pats were a dumpster fire last year while the Bucs are still playing for a Super Bowl berth, but with everything I just rattled off I truly think Edelman wants to retire as a Patriot.
3.) Slot Receiver History
Edelman will be 35 before the start of training camp with 11 seasons already under his belt and a litany of injuries over the years, but I can’t imagine a guy with a self produced documentary called “100%” and a biography called “Relentless” wanting to go out this way. Keep in mind, statistically he had literally his best game EVER in Week 2 against Seattle going off for 8 catches and 179 yards before nagging injuries caught up to him and the wheels fell off the Cam Newton experiment. So as of just a few months ago he still had elite production. However he is already past the expiration date we see on just about every slot receiver, who all take an inhumane level of abuse throughout their careers. Wes Welker retired at the age of 34, but had his last 50+ reception season at 32. The Jets’ all-time slot guy Wayne Chrebet retired at the age of 32. Troy Brown is probably the best Edelman comparison at this point as he caught his last pass at the age of 35 when he had 43 receptions for 384 yards and 4 Touchdowns. Obviously the talent devoid Patriots will need more from a 35-year-old Edelman than 43/384/4 if they’re going to be successful, but thats the measuring stick for 35-year-old slot receivers. Clearly it’s not fair to expect 100 receptions from a guy going into his 12 season, but that just goes to show you the situation the Pats have put themselves in with poor personnel moves (trading a 2nd for Mohamed Sanu) and even worst drafting (1st round WR N’Keal Harry).
While I have no idea if Belichick will do what I hope he does and execute Order 66 this offseason to get the Patriots back to where they need to be, I am glad we get to watch at least one more year of Julian Edelman.
Bill Belichick is a well known military historian after growing up in Annapolis where his veteran father was an assistant football coach at Navy for 30 years, who just turned down the nation’s highest civilian honor from the Commander in Chief. This is not a garden variety accolade, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award for “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” So for Belichick to decline the Medal of Freedom from the President of the United States is not something he took lightly.
After the shit show that was last week at the Capitol it would have been utterly impossible for Belichick to accept this award from the man who has become politically radioactive. Not to mention all the heat Bill has taken over the last few years for his friendship (and endorsement letter) with Donald Trump. After what we’ve seen in the last week along with the fierce opposition from NFL players who have publicly railed against the President the last four years, the blowback Belichick would have faced would have been immense.
Now you can argue that this is all bullshit and Belichick got bullied into declining the award, but it brings to mind something I always say to my own team: perception is reality. You can have the best of intentions (or not), you can think you’re in the right, but you need to be mindful of perception. The Patriots are coming off their worst season in 20 years, the United States Capitol was just stormed for the first time in 100+ years after the President whipped people into a frenzy, and the man that would be personally handing this award to Belichick just became the first President in the history of the United States to be impeached twice. Even the dumbest person in the room knows you don’t want to be associated with somebody accused of inciting an insurrection.
“The league has been largely living inside its own bubble the past week where it concerns Trump, a bubble that was forged by past events and whose ideology is it’s better to ignore the things Trump says and does than to engage.
All of that makes what Belichick just did feel more personal. He could have accepted Trump’s honor as an outright show of support, or simply because Belichick doesn’t like to be told what he should be doing. Also because he could have simply said “no” without context. If anything, it’s more unprecedented for Belichick to explain himself. So the fact that he did so suggests he knows the gravity of the moment.
What Belichick said sounded personal to him, particularly his reminder that he is speaking as “an American citizen.” That sounds like someone who is making a clear prioritization. Yes, he wrote a letter to Trump in support of his presidential run in 2016. Yes, they previously had a long friendship that Trump likes to drop into conversations from time to time. But Belichick is complicated. He also has an appreciation of American history and a steeped family history in the military. And while he doesn’t engage politically very often in public, those who have known him for a long time suggest he’s as thoughtful about the foundational elements of democracy as he is about football.”
So maybe it was a come to Jesus moment for Belichick and he is now questioning his relationship with Trump or maybe it’s just an infamously shrewd strategic mind in Belichick reading the room and sidestepping what would have been an inevitable PR shit storm. Either way he deserves credit for putting the team before any personal accolades and not only declining the award, but going against his modus operandi and providing a detailed explanation as to why he made the decision.
This really has just been a disaster of a season. The Patriots just got dunked on by the Buffalo Bills after going 29-3 against them between 2001-2019 with Tom Brady under center. It was a blowout, it was a changing of the guard, but to say it was embarrassing would imply that the end result was surprising. It was not. In the infamous words of Trent Dilfer, the Patriots aren’t good anymore. It’s the first time the Patriots have been swept in a season by a divisional opponent in 20 years, they are dead last in the NFL in passing TDs with 8 (one of which came from WR Jakobi Meyers), and the team is uncharacteristically undisciplined, which was only exacerbated by that head scratching challenge flag Belichick threw on what was clearly a catch directlyin front of him and his son.
Someone clearly told Bill to throw the red flag though so Ernie must be going blind up in that fucking lighthouse.
There is a lot of grave dancing, which is to be expected after the run the Patriots just went on over the last 20 years. But for people to already be comparing the Patriots to the Jets is hyperbole of the highest order. Lets just let this marinate for a little more than 15 weeks before locking the Pats in the NFL basement with the likes of the Jets. I fully expect Bill is going to Execute Order 66 this offseason and just start taking people out left and right because you can tell this season has stung, which can only be worsened seeing Tom Brady’s march to the playoffs down in Tampa. The Pats will have some of, if not the most, cap room in the league this offseason and a Top 15 draft pick so there are some assets there to work with. Whether that means trading up to snag a top tier QB, trading down and rebuilding with even more picks, or hoping another QB shakes loose in free agency, there are plenty of routes back to respectability. I will settle for respectability and then we can discuss returning to championship contender status at a later date.
The best the Patriots can hope for right now is a 2012 Seahawks scenario where they overpay for a backup QB free agent and then hit on a QB with a pick later in the draft. Best case scenario is the Pats sign Marcus Mariota, then draft a QB in the 3rd Round, and Mariota never takes a snap for the team. Similar to how the Seahawks and Pete Carroll gave career backup Matt Flynn a monster 3-year deal before realizing a few weeks later that they had hit the jackpot with Russell Wilson. But stumbling onto another Hall of Fame QB with a late round draft pick isn’t exactlyy probable so I can’t say I am expecting that.
What about former Washington QB Dwayne Haskins? The fastest a 1st Round QB has been outright cut by a team in the last 20 years. Nope. Moving on.
The Patriots unfortunately do not have a lot of elite talent and just about all of their best players are on the wrong side of 30. All of their best offensive players under 30 are linemen and runningbacks, which is why the running game is the only thing thats looked impressive at times. Tight ends we’ll get to in a minute, but the receiving corps is nothing I would bet money on. N’Keal Harry is looking like a gigantic bust and Damiere Byrd and Jakobi Meyers are nice 3rd or 4th receivers, but they are not true No. 1 guys. Things aren’t much better on the defensive side of the ball with their best players under 30 including guys like JC Jackson (who got robbed of a Pro Bowl this year), Chase Winovich, Deatrich Wise, and the book is still out but early signs have looked good on Josh Uche and Kyle Dugger. You can debate anyone I may have left out, but there’s not a lot of young elite talent on the roster except for Jackson (who sneaky got torched last night).
Cam Newton is a great dude, a seemingly beloved teammate, and he has been a model Patriot, but unfortunately he just looks cooked. I don’t know if it’s his shoulder or what, but he just cannot deliver the ball. It’s not all his fault though as the weapons around him have been more like Dollar Store Super Soakers. Even when he does deliver a good pass, he has bum receivers dropping balls like Byrd letting a would be TD bounce off his face mask.
Or rookie (3rd Round pick) TE Devin Asiasi dropping a key first down and adding to his grand total of Zero receptions on the season. Fellow 3rd Round TE Dalton Keene has a measly Two receptions on the year too so Tight End, a historically important position for young/new/mobile QBs, has been BARREN in New England.
Newton can still takeoff for an electric TD run though, which he did Monday night for his 12th of the year. However even that came after what realistically should have been another sack as Newton’s pocket presence and awareness has seemed non-existent this season. But even with the 2nd Most Rushing TDs by a QB in a season (trailing only himself in 2011 with 14), passing for just 5 touchdowns over 14 games simply isn’t going to cut it. I wish it had worked out better, I was really excited to see Cam as a Patriot, but it just hasn’t materialized. It’s not for a lack of effort or attitude, which has been admirable, but even the ever positive Newton sounded dejected after last night’s effort (5/10 for 34 yards, 47.6 QBR).
On Monday he looked exhausted and sounded frustrated. He has been away from his children for months, and not even an admirable work ethic and a team-first attitude has produced much.
“It’s extremely frustrating knowing what you’re capable of but it’s just not showing when it counts the most,” Newton said. “… I’ve sacrificed so much this year and it hurts when you have the outing that you had tonight …
“I’m more or less venting,” he acknowledged.
Jarrett Stidham: Alright down 20+ points, time for me to get in there and start slinging it!
To be fair, Jarrett Stidham, who it looked like might not even see the field, was also terrible, completing 4 of 11 passes for 44 yards with a QBR of 3.7. Again, this team is devoid of elite talent at Wide Receiver (Julian Edelman is still out with a knee injury) and Tight End so it’s hard to evaluate anybody under center, but lets just say Stidham does not appear to be like a young Aaron Rodgers with his path to playing time merely blocked by a former MVP veteran QB.
To make matters even worse, the commentators were borderline depressing too. They will usually try to carry a game broadcast during a blowout, but they were talking about Newton and the Patriots like a “too old to be in the ring” heavyweight boxer that they were legitimately concerned for. And this was with 10 minutes left to go in the 4th quarter. Quite a lot of time to fill as the broadcasters pondered the precarious future of the Patriots.
So we’ll see what the Patriots do and whether they attack the offseason like they did after 2006 when they spent big in free agency and made splashy trades for studs like Randy Moss and Wes Welker, but even then that team had elite building blocks already in place.
All we know is this: Bill has the cap space, an unusually high draft pick, and all the motivation in the world to turn this thing around. Now let’s just hope this is a rebuild and not a tear down.
Yesterday the Patriots fell into a 10-0 hole almost immediately after the ball was kicked. Or at least it felt like it. The defense was getting the ball ran down its throat and making Rams’ ball catchers like Tyler Higbee look immortal in the passing game. The offense had had a possession or two and we watched Josh McDaniels again INEXPLICABLY abandon his power running offense to try and revert back to a passing first attack. It was 10-0 and it was already feeling hopeless.
And then Cam Newton threw the softest pick six you might ever see.
To a few different text threads I had the same reaction. I just laughed. Because of course that’s what happened. Our QB1 who just hasn’t been able to figure it the fuck out all year wasn’t able to collect himself when the entire 53 man roster was on its heels and put some points on the board. He couldn’t, even for a moment, look like the Cam of old. National champion, Heisman Trophy winner. First overall pick. Former league MVP. A guy who once threw for over 4,000 yards. And he couldn’t put together an even half decent drive when we really needed it.
But that might not be the worst part. The worst part is I still go into every week wondering if the old Cam, the real Cam, the one teams really didn’t want to play on Sundays, would reappear. The worst part is he, at least outwardly, still has the confidence. Not quite boastful swagger, but the confidence of a QB who just knows he is either gonna sling it or run around you or blast through you but one way or another you’re in for a long day. The worst part is I don’t want to give up on that guy.
Circumstance plays a part in all this optimism, in this hope. I know that. It’s not like we have an exciting option on the bench behind Cam Newton. When he caught the ‘rona earlier this year we started Brian Hoyer. Now sitting at #2 on the depth chart is Jarrett Stidham, which is to say, the Year 2 of Brian Hoyer. So we sort of, whether subconsciously or not, have known all along we NEED Cam to become that guy again. We need him to be the most dynamic QB in the league, maybe ever. There really isn’t another option.
But really the highest contributing part of this is Cam is just so easy to root for. He’s always smiling, he’s always having fun. He’s said to be an immensely hard worker and a football junkie. He ALWAYS owns up for his own play when it, often as of late, isn’t so great. He’s quick to talk up his teammates both to the media and on the sidelines. The entire coaching staff loves him and has called him the leader of this team almost since the minute he was signed. And all of this after overcoming years of debilitating injuries that sought to derail a once singularly promising career. He is literally everything you want in your starting QB, except that little part about getting it done on the field.
To defend Cam as much as possible, he doesn’t exactly have the Roman army-equivalent surrounding him. The patchwork offensive line has held up fairly well this season but when it starts to leak, holy damn does the boat go down quick. Yesterday was a perfect example of that as Jermaine Eluemunor was treated like a revolving door by the majority of the Rams defensive line. The irony is that I’ve derided Cam Newton all year for what appeared to be a complete lack of anything resembling pocket presence or feel, and yesterday he had those things in droves. He was stepping up, moving around the pocket, and feeling the rush. But none of that matters when you are the blood in the water and there is an AaronDonald Shark loose in the backfield. Then there are his his targets. I’m not going too far with this because I have another blog coming later on this very topic. But it isn’t like we’ve set up our new QB with a lot of weapons. Or any really. Julian Edelman, our one (1) mainstay at wide out has been hurt. We literally didn’t have a TE yesterday, did that dawn on anybody? Dalton Keene is at this point a rookie mini-offensive tackle and I’m convinced Devin Asiasi is a Greek myth where a potentially talented is football player is drafted by the game’s most storied franchise only to be super glued to the bench for all of eternity to pay for past transgressions of his family, or fucking something along those lines. It’s not great. But with all that said, there are guys open. And that is really all that matters. You can’t blame who the guys are if they are getting open. Byrd, Meyers, Ryan Izzo when he is healthy, and yes, occasionally, when he isn’t blocking from the back, N’Keal Harry all get open. Yet all Cam Newton can due a good percentage of the time is dump the ball in the dirt, miss them by a mile, hit a defensive back in the chest, or completely question his own ability and not attempt the throw, which has happened all too often. None of that even mentions the ABBBSURD amount of passes the 6’5″ and change Newton has had deflected/knocked down this year. There have been games where our passing attack has looked like Mugsy Bogues shooting jump shots on Hakeem Olajuwon and there has been exactly zero explanation for it. This whole season, where his career is, and his own skill-set just have be in his head at this point. I can’t imagine what else it could be.
Through the deflections, the frustrating sacks taken, the overall lapses in judgement (I would have let Damien Harris taken his chances 1-1 in the open field against a linebacker from the five last night, that’s just me) I’m still rooting for Cam Newton. And that’s the thing. I’m still saying “Come on man, you can do this” when if this was any other QB I’d be anonymously reporting that they were exposed to the rona, robbed a bank, pee in the pool, doesn’t tip, or has bad breath. Anything to get them the fuck off my team. With Newton, I want him to do well, and I want him to do well with the Patriots. Still. Despite the asshole outfits. He’s just that easy to root for.
We dropped, in all probability, out of playoff contention last night. So Cam Newton probably will not bring the Pats to the heights that we once hoped, and for a lot of us, kept hoping for. This was most likely a one season thing. It won’t have the same feeling, desperately begging Newton to put it together to win these next few, meaningless games; to dig deep for the moral victories that will let us all sleep easier at night. And that just sucks. Because he is so damn easy to root for.
Sports Illustrated –His path to the top of the Houston Texans’ front office is unlike anything the NFL has ever seen. Many from his past see him as a chaplain with a heart of gold or an underdog outsider with the tools for greatness. Others are skeptical, unable to square his relentless ambition with claims of selflessness. Two years after his arrival in Houston, those inside the Texans’ building describe an atmosphere of mistrust, a state of constant chaos and a sense that he isn’t fit for the roles he’s taken on…Then there was Jack Easterby, hired as the franchise’s executive vice president of team development in April 2019, a man who’d risen from low-level Jaguars intern to Patriots team chaplain to lauded character coach—before making an unprecedented shift into football operations. Easterby, those Texans told each other, was Littlefinger, the nickname of Petyr Baelish, a shadowy and cunning operative who on TV espoused righteousness as a strategy, but sought to consolidate power through chaos and isolation and the pulling of strings behind the scenes.
Chaos is a ladder. This is a blog I meant to write back in October, but never got around to it because I’m a perpetual procrastinator. The headline of that blog I never wrote was: “With Bill O’Brien Fired, Jack Easterby is Officially the Petyr Baelish of the NFL.” A guy who was hired to be a chaplain, a glorified character coach for the Patriots, somehow rose to the rank of General Manager for the Houston Texans. How the fuck did that happen? Seriously, Easterby should walk around with a mockingbird sigil pinned to his chest.
I often thought my disdain for this man I never met was just my Patriots red and blue bleeding through after Easterby trashed Robert Kraft on his way out of New England because he *allegedly* got an HJ from another adult. People that act holier than thou are usually the worst ones behind closed doors. Well, turns out it wasn’t just me as Sports Illustrated just published an extensive article TRASHING Jack Easterby and also borrowing my Baelish analogy.
Long story short, Easterby worked his way up from camp counselor to college character coach to chaplain for teams like the Chiefs and Patriots, before heading to Houston for a promotion in Player Development (Easterby then also tried to poach Nick Caserio while at Kraft’s house for a Super Bowl ring ceremony), and then *nine* months after being on the job for the Texans, he somehow slides into the EVP of Football Operations/GM role after the vacuum left by the firing of current GM and coach, Bill O’Brien.
THAT is some ladder climbing folks.
Easterby’s role wasn’t clearly described to many of his new colleagues, but he was expected to build on the position he held in New England, setting an organizational culture and mentoring players.
These are the kinds of hires that are always disasters in companies because if nobody really knows what somebody is supposed to be doing then it allows them to, at best, be unproductive and at worst work in the shadows to craft their own job description.
One former staffer says that when Easterby is asked for specifics about a subject on which he’s out of his depth—not uncommon considering his scope of responsibilities and limited NFL experience—he’ll artfully deflect and move on to a new topic. They watched curiously as Easterby’s responsibilities expanded well beyond the role for which he was hired—in some cases, outside his areas of expertise. As another colleague puts it, “Jack was basically doing everything O’Brien was doing, except for calling plays.”
See what I mean?
But you seriously have to read this entire SI article just to see the long winding road a guy with zero actual NFL chops somehow jumped from position to position, manipulating relationships (and to be honest probably naive, hyper-religious people) from team to team, until he somehow went from character coach to the guy in charge of a National Football League franchise. Unreal, you almost have to respect it.
While Easterby aspires to be a transformational leader, guided by religion and morality, people who have worked alongside him in Houston have increasingly come to see him as transactional. Says a colleague: “If you combine a faith-healing televangelist with Littlefinger, you’d get Jack Easterby.”
The one thing that I can’t seem to figure out is his apparent close relationship with Belichick. You would think this is a guy Bill would tell to get the hell away from him. He has always been distrustful of charlatans like Tom Brady’s guy, Alex Guererro. Although it seemed like his act may have been wearing thin and more people were starting to wise up in the Patriots organization.
One person who saw his sideline histrionics up close says they were more show than substance: When you see him and the big personality and how he’s moved up the ladder so fast, you’re like, ‘Man, this isn’t authentic. Something doesn’t feel genuine about this.’ ” Others saw him sidling up to assistants. They noticed that he hired an agent who represented coaches and executives, an unheard-of move for a chaplain in pro sports. One Patriots staffer compared Easterby to a preacher at a megachurch—a man of God who stands onstage and denounces the ills of poverty, then slips out the backdoor, into a private jet. Several current and former colleagues, from Foxboro and Houston, agree that this description is accurate.
Theres also a ton of stuff in there about Easterby seemingly straight up lying on his resume and experience such as helping 50+ universities in their coaching searches over the years without offering any specifics. Until he got called on it that is.
As recently as November, a bio for Easterby that appeared on the website for the Greatest Champion Foundation (a nonprofit with a goal of serving athletes holistically through faith and founded by Easterby and his father) claimed that Easterby has over the years “been entrusted with over 50 head coaching searches at both power-five and mid-major universities for multiple sports.” Neither the Texans nor Easterby addressed specific questions from SI about which programs he has worked with on coaching searches and in what capacity.
That foundation’s site was down for most of the past month—a staffer explained that it was due to a redesign and migration to a new content management system—and when the new version launched last weekend, Easterby no longer had a bio.
It seems like the Texans may finally be wising up to Littlefinger’s act of ladder climbing as well. Apparently they sent out an email to all season ticket holders announcing a star studded team devoted to finding the next GM and coach of the team. Just as it ended for Baelish, you can only climb so high on trafficking misinformation before you make enough enemies that it catches up to you.
After reading that absolute hit piece by SI though, if I had to summarize Easterby in one gif, it’s this.
This has become somewhat of a running joke, what is Bruce Arians going to say to throw Tom Brady under the bus this week? Without fail, Arians always delivers and needlessly dumps all the responsibility in Brady’s lap. Last time it was Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback to ever play the game, a 20 year veteran, suddenly was getting confused by coverages?
This week, after bringing the Bucs back to within 3 points after Arian’s defense gave up 200+ yards to Tyreek Hill in the first QUARTER, Arians blamed the play calling on the player. Not taking responsibility himself or even criticizing the Offensive Coordinator, Byron Leftwich. Nope he instead blames it all on the player.
Bruce Arians, to me last night, on Tom Brady: "He picks all the plays now. We call what he picks. We just have to get better. He's getting more comfortable every week. We're getting close." (Note: Arians was upbeat about Brady's skillset. This is a process.) More on The Aftermath
Granted you can still see Brady and his Tampa Bay receivers missing on plays that were automatic in New England. But thats what happens with new guys. It’s hard to replicate the familiarity with a teammate like Brady had after nearly 600 completions to Julian Edelman. Brady and Edelman played together for 10 YEARS and they did summer workouts in Cali, and offseason workouts in Montana. All those extra reps add up so when the blitz is coming both Brady and Edelman knew what the other guy was thinking and where they needed to be.
With that being said, this Bucs team would probably be better off if Brady just ripped the green dot off his helmet and ran his own offense at all times.
What Arians is doing week after week personally offends me. I feel like the girlfriend of the guy who doesn’t want to complain to the waiter that he got the wrong order. I ain’t having it, Bruce.
Say what you will about Bray and Belichick’s relationship getting a little frosty towards the end in New England, but BB never publicly criticized Tom. Remember the time the Patriots got absolutely demolished by the Chiefs in 2014? A lot of people were saying Brady looked cooked. Hell, Trent Dilfer went out on a limb to roast the Patriots and probably regrets it to this day.
After that game a lot of people were asking the question would Belichick consider moving on from his 37-year-old quarterback and go with the kid they drafted in the 2nd round that year, Jimmy Garoppolo. Remember Bill’s response?
The Patriots won the Super Bowl that year.
Remember back in 2016 when a reporter asked if Jimmy G played well enough during Tom Brady’s four game Deflategate suspension, could he earn the job full time? Bill nearly spit on the guy.
The Patriots won the Super Bowl that year.
You see my point yet? Look, I’m not saying Brady is this unquestionable, beyond reproach, Christ-like figure (though he might be), but when you have a guy with Brady’s resume who is still playing at an elite level (3,300 yards, 28 touchdowns and on pace for his most TD passes in over a decade) maybe you figure out a way to work with the guy rather than trying to dump all the blame in his lap?
"Right now Bruce Arians is wasting Tom Brady. He got served on a silver platter the greatest quarterback to ever play, and all you had to do was use him the right way."
I mean the Bucs are 7-5 and are currently the No. 6 seed in the NFC. So they’re still in a great position to make a playoff run.
What are you doing, Bruce?
Tom Brady is simply too nice of a guy to ever say this, but Arians is the guy in charge and if he’s not going to take some of the blame for his team’s struggles then he needs to go. Ever the positive person (AKA a politician) Brady has refused to get down in the mud, but he did abruptly end his post game presser after about 2 minutes when grilled on his relationship with Arians.
Only one of these guys in Tampa has the GOAT title and it sure as hell ain’t the guy that coached Jameis Winston into 30 interceptions. So if the Bucs flame out this year, don’t be surprised to see Arians get axed and one of “Brady’s guys” comes in to take over.
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