Inside Patriots’ crisis: Bill Belichick’s ‘my-way-or-the-highway’ approach causing friction with Robert Kraft’s heir apparent

The New England Patriots are a proud franchise that’s been to nine Super Bowls since 2001 and came away victors on six of those trips. An organization that missed the playoffs just three times in the past 23 seasons. A team where winning was second nature is now floundering and in disarray.

What’s the present feeling on what will happen with the franchise moving forward? Here’s what I’m hearing after speaking with a half-dozen league sources.

A franchise long known for its secretive nature, the Patriots organization is starting to form cracks. Sources tell me a rift has been building between head coach Bill Belichick and Jonathan Kraft, president of the franchise and heir apparent to Robert Kraft, his father, and owner of the team. The divisions between the two run deep and much of it focuses on Belichick’s handling of the team.

Belichick, hired in 2000, is not just the head coach but also the de facto general manager who makes all the decisions for the team, from drafting players to signing free agents. People say Belichick makes even the most minute decisions when it comes to the team, and it’s a “My way or the highway,” mentality with the head coach.

Belichick’s hands-on decision-making in all aspects of the team works when they are doing well, but when it goes south there will be finger-pointing; it’s gone south rather quickly.

The biggest criticism has been Belichick’s inability to build and strengthen the team’s roster in recent years, which has been glaring since the departure of Tom Brady.

Start with Mac Jones, whom Belichick selected with the 15th pick of the 2021 draft. After a reasonably successful rookie season, Jones has since struggled and was benched the past two weeks. Even bringing quarterback guru Bill O’Brien back into the fold has not jumpstarted Jones.

O’Brien originally served in a capacity of coaching roles with New England between 2007 and 2011. Many question Jones’ future with the Patriots, yet plenty tell me the quarterback is just part of the problem.

They point to the offensive line as a culprit for the sudden downturn in the team’s fortune. One league source described left tackle Trent Brown as being “well past his expiration date” and said the career of center David Andrews is in a tailspin.

The inability to procure a playmaker for Jones has been another problem. Belichick’s history of selecting receivers early in the draft has been nothing short of awful, and wideouts recently signed in free agency are of the possession variety versus game-breakers.

A reluctance to put rookies who are deserving of playing time on the field has been another sore spot, and it’s a practice that goes back almost 40 years when Belichick served under Bill Parcells. All 12 players the Patriots selected in the 2023 NFL Draft made the roster in one form or another, including three offensive linemen. Yet only one, cornerback Christian Gonzalez, broke in with the starting unit. After a terrific start to the season, Gonzalez was put on IR after suffering a dislocated shoulder in Week 4, and he’s likely to miss the rest of the 2023 season.

Assuming the Patriots cannot turn it around, what will happen with Belichick once the season is over? The consensus is Belichick won’t be the Patriots head coach in 2024 yet no one I’ve spoken with believes the franchise will unceremoniously fire him at season’s end. The belief inside league circles is they’ll allow him to retire graciously and exit the organization.

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What if Patriots HC Bill Belichick doesn’t want to retire?

Several people believe a situation similar to the one Doug Pederson experienced with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2020 could play out. Three years after winning the Super Bowl, friction between the Eagles front office and Pederson led to his departure after there were reported disagreements over the coaching staff.

No one expects the Patriots to turn it around this season based on the reasons illustrated earlier. If in fact, this is the final stretch of Belichick’s tenure in New England, history will no doubt be kind to him.

After a failed stint in Cleveland and being the head coach of the New York Jets for less than 24 hours, Belichick’s tenure in New England, which has lasted almost a quarter century, will go down as the most successful in NFL history and a space is reserved for him in Canton, Ohio.

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