FOXBOROUGH – Nothing like a pre-game bombshell to get the juices flowing right before the opening kickoff.
Admittedly, it was hard not to be slightly taken aback by the news Ian Rapoport dropped on the NFL Network’s pregame show ahead of the Patriots game with the Bills.
“Sources say Bill Belichick during the offseason quietly agreed to terms on a lucrative, multi-year, new contract,” Ian Rapoport said at the top of the hour on NFL Network’s pregame show. “Now, contractually, he is locked up long term.”
That’s quite a mouthful. But what does it mean?
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Now that the dust has settled, and the shock has worn off, it could mean absolutely nothing. Extension or not, the news won’t preclude Kraft from handing Belichick his walking papers if he so chooses.
Or, this could provide a glimpse into the future, meaning Belichick will still be here, and nothing changes, or he’ll be here under different circumstances. More to the point, he’ll still be around to try and break Don Shula’s coaching record.
As it stands, he’s 17 wins away after the Patriots stunning upset of the Bills, 29-25, in the best game the team has played all season. If that kind of all-around effort continues, and the Patriots are able to turn the season around, Belichick won’t be going anywhere. But that’s still a big ‘if’ with ten games to play.
Of course, the ambiguity surrounding the extension is striking.
Details are missing. We don’t know the specific language in the fine print of the deal. We don’t know if Robert Kraft built in specific outs.
Such as, how much would it cost him to buyout Belichick if he decided to move on? How much of the contract is guaranteed? And how many years is it really?
That information hasn’t been leaked out. We only know that an extension was agreed upon during the offseason. Beyond that, it’s curious why the info came out now. A conspiracy theorist would surmise the extension news came from Belichick’s camp.
Why?
To try and quiet the increasing clamor to do away with the six-time Super Bowl winning coach. Or maybe Belichick was looking for more buy-in from the players if they were convinced he wasn’t going anywhere. Whatever the motivation, it seemed to work – for one week at least.
Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that nugget wasn’t the only news to drop.
Almost on cue, there were other reports suggesting Kraft can still cut the chord with Belichick whenever he sees fit.
NBCSports Boston’s Tom Curran even theorized the length of the deal likely coincided with the timeline for Jerod Mayo, who signed a two-year deal during the offseason. Curran said he’d be “stunned” if Belichick’s new deal ran past Mayo, the presumed heir to the Hoodie.
Piecing it all together, the Kraft and Belichick union may still be headed for the skids depending on how it goes the rest of the way.
Getting back to the initial report, extending Belichick during this past offseason didn’t make much sense. At least, not on the surface. Not after the Matt Patricia/Joe Judge experiment. Not after missing the playoffs for the second time in three years. Not after watching a team that continued to make the same mistakes over and over again through the first six games.
Why would Kraft sign Belichick to a multi-year deal? Especially after he came out in March at the NFL owner’s meetings in Phoenix, basically giving an ultimatum.
“My objective for our team is that we make the playoffs,” said Kraft. “Because once you make the playoffs anything can happen, but if you don’t then your season ends in a way that doesn’t make me very happy.”
Was he being disingenuous and just playing to the angry crowd? We’ll see soon enough.
The way it looks after seven games, even with the win over the Bills, the Patriots aren’t going to make the playoffs for the second straight season. Stranger things have happened, but starting at 2-5 doesn’t give them the best odds.
And, even with an “extension,” there are plenty of ways to get the ball rolling on change if it comes to that.
Perhaps Kraft will tell Belichick he’s taking away his GM powers, and hire someone new to do the job. How would Belichick, who captured his 300th win Sunday, react to that?
It just seems like this is more like a precursor to Belichick’s eventual departure, as opposed to a blanket vote of confidence. Still, it’s hard to ignore Belichick ruled the day Sunday.
With all of that as a backdrop, the Patriots came out and played their best game of the season. They were charged up from the get-go – after a season filled with lackluster starts. They also came back and pulled the game out. In the scheme of things, it was a huge victory for the Patriots coach – probably in more ways than one.
For his part, Belichick didn’t confirm, deny, or address the contract extension. After the game, he just sent out one of his typical glares to the reporter asking the question.
“Yeah, I never talk about my contract,” Belichick said. “Focus on the game. Try to focus on Buffalo. And then I’ll focus on Miami. You can count on that.”
You can also count on the story not going away if the Patriots can’t stay in the win column.
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