The New England Patriots, prohibitive favorites to win their sixth Super Bowl in a few weeks, could also be sitting at No. 4 in the 2018 NFL Draft — if we’re to believe the Cleveland Browns.
The Jimmy Garoppolo trade continues to dominate conversation in New England, especially in the wake of the ESPN report last week chronicling supposed dissent within the Patriots organization among Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft.
And no matter what drove the Patriots ultimately to move the quarterback, Garoppolo wasted no time proving New England probably could have received more than a second-round pick for the QB. He won all five of his starts with the San Francisco 49ers and, to make matters worse, devalued the Patriots’ acquired second-round pick in the process.
The 49ers seem hand-picked as the Patriots’ trading partner — perhaps Belichick’s way of helping out head coach Kyle Shanahan and/or find Garoppolo a soft place to land — and according to The Plain Dealer, there wasn’t much consideration to moving Garoppolo anywhere else. The Patriots reportedly insisted for the better part of a year that they weren’t going to trade the young backup. The Browns, according to The Plain Dealer’s Terry Pluto, told the Patriots to call them if they changed their minds.
New England obviously changed its mind, but Belichick apparently never called the Browns. And if he had called his former team, Pluto writes, he would have been able to secure a better deal for Garoppolo.
“I know that (Cleveland general manager Sashi Brown) was willing to part with Houston’s first-round pick and other goodies,” Pluto wrote. “He would have been willing to help Belichick shop around for a backup quarterback to help the trade work.”
That Houston pick ended up being a pretty valuable asset. The Texans stumbled to a 4-12 record, and the Browns now have their own first-round pick (No. 1 overall) and the Houston pick (No. 4 overall).
So, why didn’t the Patriots take more calls on Garoppolo? Why did they just suddenly change course and ship him to the 49ers? There is no shortage of theories for both of those questions, but it’s unlikely we get the truth anytime soon.
H/t to CBS Boston
