Do you trust New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick?
More specifically, do you trust what he reportedly told sportsillustrated.com’s Peter King?
According to King, considered the top NFL writer there is, Belichick thinks that Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is a great heir apparent to future Pro Football Hall of Famer Tom Brady.
Does Belichick really, truly believe that? Can he really, truly believe that?
After all, Garoppolo has played all of just six quarters in the regular season in his three-year career. Can you believe anything based on that small serving sample, which amounts to having completed 63 of 94 passes (67 percent) for 690 yards and five touchdowns, with no interceptions, for a 106.2 quarterback rating?
Yes, Belichick sees Garoppolo in practice every day, and also during the preseason, but we all know that practice and even the preseason – games that don’t count in the standings and may involve some players who, as former Browns head coach Butch Davis used to put it, “will be selling shoes at Walmart next week” – is as far away from the real live game action of the regular season as Ohio’s winter weather is different from that of Florida.
Or is Belichick simply trying to be an excellent poker player and as such is using King as the mouthpiece to spout the message of Garoppolo’s virtues to drive up the price around the NFL for the quarterback, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent after next season?
Keep in mind that Belichick hates paying big contracts to prospective free agents as much as he hates losing. And he really, really, really hates losing.
That’s a lot of hate.
In fact, it might even be enough for a person to say just about anything, especially when there’s so much money involved.
With all that, then, the Browns – and the other teams who are reportedly interested in being part of a Garoppolo derby, should one materialize – have to determine what is fact, if there is indeed any fact in what Belichick says in this regard, and what is fiction.
Figuring that out is just one of the difficult decisions the Browns must make this offseason as they try to somehow, some way, find their quarterback. They have to find their quarterback soon, and preferably this offseason, and if not, then certainly next offseason. For, as we’ve said many, many times here, until the Browns get their man at the most important position in team sports, their total rebuild really doesn’t begin in earnest.
So what should the Browns do?
My answer will come in our next post.
