Patriots: Is Bill Belichick a better head coach or general manager?

Bill Belichick is one of the rare NFL power figures who does double-duty as both his team’s head coach and its general manager.

The New England Patriots have been fortunate enough to have the best coach and quarterback duo in the NFL for the last 20 years. Over that time, Bill Belichick has proven to be both a great head coach and general manager of the team. It leads to a natural question: which job is Belichick better at, coaching or being the general manager?

Regardless of Tom Brady being the greatest quarterback of all time, Belichick and the Patriots selected Brady in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft. Tom is now a 42-year-old, six-time champion… with visions of playing until he’s 45 years old. Tom might have visions of playing another three seasons, but it’s unknown if that’s the route Belichick would like to take his team. What we do know is there is no way that Robert Kraft would ever let Tom Brady play for another team.

For years, there have been questions and discussions of whether Tom or Bill would have this continuous success if they didn’t have each other. After 20 years together, that’s a difficult debate to construct.

In a common argument, it would be easy to think that given how great Brady truly is, that he would fit in with any team and be just as successful. On the same wavelength, it’s easy to think the same of Belichick. Given the tenures of both Tom and Bill in New England, it’s hard to even fathom them not being Patriots.

Brady has said multiple times that over the course of a 20-year relationship (just like with anyone) there are going to be disagreements and minor flare-ups, but it’s all in good heart. So for fans and media to speculate on Brady and Belichick hating each other is a bit farfetched. The relationship shared between Tom and Bill seems to be both a working and a casual relationship, as they have been in each other’s life for a long time now.

Belichick knows the intricacies of a successful football team, and that’s what makes him both a great head coach and a great general manager. He doesn’t necessarily wear his ‘coaching hat’ when it comes to dealing with player contracts and salaries, just as he doesn’t wear his ‘GM hat’ when it comes to coaching on the field.

But isn’t a player’s contract a reflection of how he performs on the field? The answer is yes, but not necessarily in New England.

Belichick, for the most part, will always make his contracts team-friendly. For example, we keep saying how Tom Brady is the greatest of all time, but he has never been paid like it. Brady has always taken less money so that the Patriots [Belichick] can equip him with a championship-caliber team. In more recent years, the team has lost great players over contract disputes, and played ‘the game’ with others.

From the way he collects his players and builds his teams, to the way he calls plays and runs the team, Belichick is a true, old school, football-minded person. In this new generation of the league where players think they run the team, none of that flies up in New England with Belichick. Belichick has not (and will not) adjust to that way of managing his team where the players call the shots.

The “Belichick Way” has worked for his entire career. Whether he’s been the defensive coordinator, head coach, or GM, Belichick knows all the answers to the tests… and thus, he ensures he’ll always pass (and with flying colors too).