Why trading Belichick is the most likely path for Patriots

Florio: Why trading Belichick is the most likely path for Patriots originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

As the New England Patriots continue to lose games, Bill Belichick tenure as head coach is growing more tenuous.

But two questions are still unclear: If the Patriots decide to move on from Belichick, when will they make that decision, and how will the two sides part ways?

One option is for New England to fire Belichick now. The team is entering a bye week after an embarrassing loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Frankfurt, Germany, in which the Patriots failed to score a touchdown and benched their supposed franchise quarterback with the game on the line in the fourth quarter. If Sunday was the final straw for team owner Robert Kraft, now would be the time to pull the plug on Belichick and hand the reins to assistant head coach Jerod Mayo.

Kraft also could wait until the end of the season to fire Belichick — or he could orchestrate a trade for the legendary head coach. NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport confirmed Sunday morning what our Tom E. Curran reported a few weeks ago — that Belichick’s contract runs through the 2024 season — so if the Patriots don’t fire Belichick, any team that wants to hire him this offseason would have to negotiate with the Patriots.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio believes a trade this offseason is the logical conclusion of Belichick’s 23-year tenure in New England — especially in light of Rapoport’s report Sunday.

“They put the word out Sunday,” Florio said Tuesday on Pro Football Talk’s PFT Live with co-host Myles Simmons. “When a sports league owns a media outlet, and the Patriots are very influential in the overall media operation, they have a platform to get the word out. And the word is, ‘We’re holding onto Bill Belichick until the end of the season. If you want him next year, you’ve got to make a deal with us.’

“… What’s going to happen behind the scenes (is), anyone that is thinking about trying to hire Bill Belichick next year is…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/florio-why-trading-belichick-most-164028649.html

Author : NBC Sports Boston

Publish date : 2023-11-14 16:40:28

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