DeAndre Hopkins' news highlights game has passed by Bill Belichick

Bill Belichick had a chance to get back into good favor with Patriots fans by signing DeAndre Hopkins. Instead, Belichick once again chose not to pay a star player, and he is now entering a season under immense pressure.

The failure to sign Hopkins shows that the game has passed by Belichick. 

It’s clear that the game has passed him by, fans just don’t want to admit it. 

Over the last three years, following the departure of Tom Brady, Belichick has slipped and it has negatively affected the Patriots. Without his security blanket, Belichick has been exposed for his poor decision-making. The big failures for Belichick have been the signing of Cam Newton, being overly conservative in games, and the failure to sign Hopkins. 

The decision to lowball Hopkins highlights how Belichick has failed to adapt to the new NFL. You have to pay top dollar for high-end talent, especially when they outwardly say that. The Hopkins signing was a layup as he made it clear that he was going to take the best offer. All Belichick had to do was give him a respectable real money offer, and he would have signed him. Instead, Belichick thinks he can still get free agents to sign at his price. What he fails to realize is that Brady is no longer on the team, so no top free agent is going to come to an unattractive market/team like the Patriots for cheap.

The game continues to pass by Belichick, and it's now setting the Patriots up for failure. The Patriots are in a concerning state because they continue to avoid spending real money. The Patriots are never going to return to the mountaintop if they continue to be cheap.

Ultimately, it will be interesting to see the fallout from the failure to sign Hopkins.