Who is Ernie Adams? Former Patriots Vice President of Player Personnel spotlights key departure leading to Bill Belichick’s decline

Bill Belichick and, more specifically, Tom Brady's exit, have been blamed for the Patriots' decline over the last several years. Most believe without Brady, the team slowly unraveled. However, there's a relatively unknown name that former Patriots executive Scott Pioli has spotlighted.

Speaking on NFL Media's "Good Morning Football," Pioli named assistant Ernie Adams as essentially the true source of the team's dynasty.

"The other person we don't hear enough about is the absence of Ernie Adams," Pioli said. "Adams was an assistant [who] was everything. Adams was a guy who helped develop quarterbacks. Whether it was Brady, Garoppolo, Cassel, or others, Ernie was the one who put the tapes together. Ernie was the one who found all the tells, all the leads who would give it to Bill."

Pioli continued, explaining that Belichick would hand over the lessons prepared by Adams and, as such, got most of the credit for developing the players:

"Bill would give it to the players. It was an important part of player development at the Patriots. So, with the absence of Ernie, you just don't see again the rapid development of New England Patriot players when they need good young players. To me, that's something that's missing. Adams was one of the most important people during that run with the Patriots."

If true, the implications of an unknown assistant essentially giving the Patriots their run of dominance might be the biggest twist in sports history.

Ernie Adams was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, and played high school football with Bill Belichick at Phillips Academy. Adams joined Northwestern University in 1971 and worked as a student assistant with the Wildcats football team.

After graduating in 1975, Adams coached as an offensive assistant in the NFL till 1995. He was on teams like the New England Patriots, New York Giants and Cleveland Bears.

Adams is mainly known for his administrative work as the Patriots' longtime director of football research from 2000 to 2020. He was seen as Bill Belichick's "voice-in-the-air" and right-hand man.

---

When did Ernie Adams leave Bill Belichick?

Bill Belichick at New England Patriots v Dallas Cowboys

While the entire world was talking about Tom Brady's departure in 2020, among other things, Adams quietly left Belichick's team for retirement. He had been with the team since 2000, according to Pro Football History. This lined him up almost perfectly with the Tom Brady era and the team's subsequent decline.

From Tedy Bruschi to Rob Gronkowski and Tom Brady, Adams' lessons touched the development of every Patriots star during the first two decades of the 21st century.

Since leaving in 2020, the Patriots have seen Mac Jones look like a typical quarterback who had a strong rookie season but has since failed to duplicate anything close.

Since leaving after the 2020 season, the New England Patriots went 10-7, fell to 8-9 in 2022 and are now 1-4. One could argue that lessons taught in 2020 lasted until 2021 and then were slowly forgotten in 2022, and by 2023, they were completely lost to time.

Now, it falls to Bill Belichick to find another "Ernie Adams" as the potential franchise savior ahead of a potential Mac Jones successor. Will the Patriots era shine brightly again on Bill Belichick's watch?

If any of the above quotes are used, please credit Good Morning Football and H/T Sportskeeda.