Do Patriots Think Bill Belichick ‘Plagued’ Team In Draft, Free Agency?

The Patriots’ decision to move on from Bill Belichick never really had anything to do with his abilities as a coach, New England just didn’t seem to like the decisions he made as an executive.

It’s become harder to argue that in the last few weeks, too.

In looking to revitalize the organization, the Patriots have made a number of moves, but most of them seem to signal that they want to keep much of the operation the same. New England elected to follow its succession plan, elevating Jerod Mayo to head coach. He then retained much of the defensive coaching staff, while the majority of the front office returned despite newfound roles.

It’s been enough of the same to lend credence to something CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones wrote Saturday.

“The lack of personnel moves seemingly indicates those in charge in New England believe the issue that plagued the team in free agency and the draft is no longer there: Belichick,” Jones wrote.

It was a rough final few seasons for Belichick as the Patriots’ top executive. It’s been covered to death, but his decisions to pay JuJu Smith-Schuster and DeVante Parker, trade Shaq Mason, draft Mac Jones and allow Matt Patricia to run the offense are some pretty clear lowlights. It set New England behind, which has left the organization playing catch-up this offseason.

Belichick’s final offensive coaching staff has already been replaced with a number of fresh faces who have history with new head executive Eliot Wolf. It remains to be seen what the Patriots do in the draft and free agency, but you can probably bet it will feel different than what the greatest coach of all time was doing.