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Bill Belichick has proven to be the GOAT when it comes to NFL head coaches. Considering he’s won six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots, there are probably few people out there who would argue that distinguished title. And, while Belichick has been lucky to have Tom Brady as his starting quarterback since the 2001 season, it takes more than just a future Hall of Fame quarterback to compete for Lombardi Trophies every season.
The Patriots have a certain way about them, with Bill Belichick creating a strategy strictly known as the “Patriot Way,” which is basically the cool kids at the cool kids lunch table deciding who gets to sit with them and who doesn’t. From trading first-round picks to giving castoffs from other teams second and third chances, the Pats have proven that they know how to add talent to their roster, even if that means plucking some of those guys from the undrafted free agent pool.
Not long ago, a former Pats assistant shed some light on what the franchise looks for while evaluating quarterbacks, but now we know exactly what Bill Belichick looks for when it comes to potentially signing undrafted free agents, as the head coach described the team’s method. Take a look below at what Belichick said when asked if there are certain traits he and his staff looks for in an undrafted player compared to one who would require a pick in the later rounds.
“No, I don’t think so,” Belichick said. “I think you’re still looking for the same thing. Again, we get into the sixth, seventh round and there’s probably 20 players, call it – I don’t know, whatever the number is, 15, 20 players, that are up there that you could probably make the case for any of them. Some of it is draft strategy like, ‘If we don’t draft this player, we know he’s not going to be available as a free agent,’ or maybe we know he is going to be available as a free agent if we don’t draft him, and we feel like we have a shot at him.
“Maybe it’s a need or some other set of circumstances. Not saying that those are all interchangeable, but I think on our board, like a lot of other draft boards at that point, there are a number of different ways that you can go and a lot of times those players have similar, let’s call it ‘grades’ on them. Certainly there’s a reason why you take one guy ahead of another. There’s good reasons for that, but in the end, a lot of those players, I would say, have similar grades and their opportunities are relatively similar. There’s people ahead of them and if they can outperform those people then they do, and if they can’t then next year somebody else comes in there and gets that opportunity.
“Whether you take a quarterback in the sixth round or a quarterback who’s going to be a wide receiver in the seventh round, or whatever round [Julian] Edelman was in, or guys like that. Some of those you draft, some of them you get at the other end – the Jacob Hollisters, the Malcolm Butlers, the J.C. Jacksons. We’ve had those guys every year. Sometimes you take guys – Nate Ebner, Joe Cardona, Matt Slater – and Brandon King doesn’t get drafted. I would say those level of players – college level, not pro level – when you’re putting a grade on them, a lot of those players have a similar grade: sixth, seventh-round, free agents.
“So when you get to free agency, if you have a guy that has the same grade as a guy you drafted in the sixth round then you try to get him and it’s not that surprising when he comes in and is as competitive, sometimes more competitive than the player you drafted because you had him graded the same. Again, for whatever reasons you took one guy ahead of another, but in the end we value their ability similar and then, obviously, as they play then those grades are no longer valid. What’s valid is what the performance is.”
That’s pretty interesting insight into how Bill Belichick and his coaches and front office evaluate players as a whole, not just ones who may fall into the undrafted free agent pool. Considering the Pats have seen success with those types of players like Malcolm Butler and Benjarvus Green-Ellis in the past, among others, the head coach did say that, a lot of times, it’s just a guessing game, even after getting as much research as possible on a player.
“Sometimes you just go with what the information you have is, what your instinct is,” he said. “We have a lot of experience in this. Some guys you know are going to get drafted based on the amount of activity or whatever you determine. There’s a lot of places to get information from however you get that information. It doesn’t mean you’re right. You’ve got to go with what you go with, so sometimes you go with that. Sometimes you think a player’s not going to get drafted and you have a shot in free agency. We’ve been right and we’ve been wrong on that.
“Matt Cassel – we thought he definitely would have gotten drafted or signed with somebody else had we not drafted him, even though we didn’t really think he was going to get drafted. He threw 30-something passes in college, but there was enough activity on him and certainly people knew about him, that had been at SC [University of Southern California] that were in the league that had shown interest that had a prior relationship with him, which we didn’t. As an example, we drafted him because we didn’t think we’d be able to get him as a free agent.”
With the NFL Draft over and a new crop of undrafted free agents prime for picking, don’t be surprised if the Pats do what they always seem to do; which is turn a caterpillar into a butterfly who helps lead them to even more Super Bowl titles. Bill Belichick and his team sort of have a good history of doing that.