Bill Belichick’s Future, Patriots Draft Mean Jets Game Could Alter Franchise

The New England Patriots host the New York Jets on Sunday at Gillette Stadium in a matchup of two teams who won’t be going to the NFL playoffs. Simply putting it like that makes it a relatively nothing day in the grand scheme of NFL history.

We all know, though, that Sunday in Foxboro, Mass., is a whole lot more than two teams with a combined 10 wins on the entire season playing out the string in the finale.

In addition to the looming possibility of snow being dumped on the region, Sunday’s Patriots-Jets game represents a potentially massive day in the history of the Patriots. Because of New England’s undeniable nosedive this season, the low-point culmination of a march to futility that accelerated when Tom Brady went to Tampa Bay, Sunday could be Bill Belichick’s final day in charge of the Patriots.

By now, we’re all familiar with all the reports. Belichick’s future with the club is very much in doubt. After a 24-year run that included six Super Bowl titles, it might finally be time for the Patriots to move on (even though it might be a while before we know that for sure).

As NESN.com’s Ricky Doyle pointed out this week on “The Spread,” NESN’s football picks podcast, the draft implications of Sunday’s contest are huge, too. It’s technically still possible for the four-win Patriots to “earn” the No. 2 pick in the draft. Theoretically, that selection would allow them to take a new franchise quarterback to build around moving forward.

Then again, if they win, the Patriots could fall to No. 7 where they could get left out of a potential run on quarterbacks. Which is where Belichick comes into play. He surely has no thoughts of tanking, especially with no guarantee he’s back after Sunday and especially with the Jets — his No. 1 enemy — standing across the field.

“Whatever happens Sunday could change the trajectory here,” Doyle proclaimed to cohost Mike Cole this week.

The betting public certainly is buying this notion, too. According to BetMGM data and PR specialist John Ewing, the Patriots are one of the most popular sides this week. Only the Chiefs and Texans are taking a higher percentage of bets in their respective games than New England, which is getting 79% of the bets in its matchup with New York at BetMGM. It might be a different story with sharp bettors, though. Despite the heavy action, there hasn’t been a ton of movement off the opening line of the Patriots being favored by 1.5 points.

Typically, that doesn’t bode well for the public. But the case for New England is hard to deny, regardless of what a win Sunday would mean for the franchise moving forward.