Bill Belichick's extension was the wrong move for the Patriots
News broke on Sunday that Bill Belichick had signed a multi-year extension with the New England Patriots, and this could not have been a worse decision for the team. Rewarding mediocrity is a puzzling move. If this was any other head coach in the NFL, he'd have been fired already.
For whatever reason, the Patriots and Bill Belichick agreed to a long-term extension, and this news broke on Sunday before the slate of NFL games:
From @NFLGameDay: This past offseason, #Patriots coach Bill Belichick quietly agreed to a lucrative multi-year new contract, sources say. That, at least, adds some context to the discussions about the greatest coach in NFL history. pic.twitter.com/ZPjRxzMVzJ
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 22, 2023
I'm just confused how someone could justify this. Belichick is obviously the head coach and general manager of the team; he has the final roster say and gets to build his own coaching staff. As the team has progressed through the post-Tom Brady era, the deep-rooted weaknesses of the team are continuously revealed.
The roster is missing explosiveness on the offensive side of the ball; Belichick's poor drafting and free agency decisions as of late have proven to be... poor. The quarterback situation has absolutely no clarity in the fourth year since Brady left the team. The defense is fine, but it does have some aging veterans who will eventually need replaced.
Belichick simply has too much authority with this roster. If this extension could turn into a great one, I think one of the only ways that can happen is if Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick agree that the organization brings in a general manager who makes the roster decisions.
I think Belichick sticking around as the head coach for a bit longer wouldn't be a terrible thing. He has made some puzzling coaching decisions lately, most notably putting Matt Patricia and Joe Judge in charge of the offense for 2022. And perhaps a bigger reason for the team's overall sloppiness on the field is because the players are simply not good, rather than the coaching being poor.
Maybe this extension ends up working out, but right now, it just feels like the franchise is rewarding the mediocrity. The Patriots are still 2-5 and have the third-least wins in the NFL this year. This team has a bottom-10 offense and defense. The win over the Buffalo Bills in Week 7 should not change anything, and I think this team finishes with double-digit losses in the end.