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The New England Patriots are in a little bit of transition at the moment, with the team losing Tom Brady in free agency to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the offseason, and, suddenly, have more question marks than the typical steady hand they’ve had over the past two decades. But head coach Bill Belichick is a football genius, and he always seems to have something up his sleeve — so could tanking for Trevor Lawrence be his next master move?
Look, the Patriots stood pat during the 2020 NFL Draft and didn’t select a quarterback to replace Brady; which means the team’s all in with second-year player Jarrett Stidham as the starter, which seems like an odd move. When considering the team hasn’t even flinched at showing interest in three other Pro Bowl level signal-callers who were available this offseason — Cam Newton, Andy Dalton and Jameis Winston — it makes you wonder if Belichick’s planning on sacrificing in the short-term to benefit big in the long-term; assuming the team can get Trevor Lawrence, of course.
According to one anonymous AFC executive, per The Athletic, Belichick and the New England Patriots could very well be gunning for Lawrence in the 2021 NFL Draft, with the team already waving the white flag on the upcoming season to target the perceived top pick next season. Take a look at what the report claimed.
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) May 2, 2020
“I’m a little worried that they are tanking for Trevor Lawrence,” an AFC evaluator said in a story that gave thoughts on each team post draft.
If true, this would be mega interesting, and something that Belichick would probably do if it meant a guaranteed opportunity at selecting Lawrence — who NFL teams have been salivating over for the past two years now. Would it be a shot to the head coach’s legacy? With six Super Bowl titles and the third-most wins as a head coach in NFL history, it wouldn’t be the best look, but, c’mon, does Belichick really give a damn about that kind of stuff? No.
Belichick has one of the biggest egos of anyone in sports, and while he may be saying the right things about Stidham at the moment — and would love nothing more than to turn the dude into a Pro Bowler who leads New England to the playoffs — if it’s clear he’s not the answer, maybe the New England Patriots start doing things a little differently in order to get Lawrence a year from now. Crazier things have happened, and, somehow, it just seems so Belichickian to come up with the right stratey in order to end up with the top quarterback prospect, doesn’t it? Ol’ dude sure is sneaky.