Seth Wickersham of ESPN dropped a bombshell report on Thursday night, detailing dysfunction within the New England Patriots organization involving owner Robert Kraft, head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. The issues are serious enough that they could lead to a break-up — most likely Belichick’s departure after 17 years — after the season, according to Wickersham.
Most interestingly for 49ers fans, the piece also provides an answer as to why San Francisco was so easily able to acquire former Patriots backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo for just a second-round pick. The trade seemed like a steal when it went down on Nov. 1, and a confusing move for a Patriots team with a 40-year-old starting QB, and a coach notorious for knowing exactly when to move on from aging players.
It turns out, Belichick never wanted to trade Garoppolo, and was instead forced to do so by Kraft. Brady, who had “grown to the point that he was considered management,” had convinced Kraft that he would continue to be the Patriots’ quarterback long-term, meaning the team had no choice but to move Garoppolo, an upcoming free agent, despite Belichick’s wishes. Once that decision was made, Belichick decided to trade Jimmy G to somebody he trusted and for various reasons, that person happened to be Kyle Shanahan.
“Two weeks before the Nov. 1 trading deadline, Belichick met with Kraft to discuss the quarterback situation. According to staffers, the meeting ran long, lasting half the day and pushing back Belichick’s other meetings. The office was buzzing. The meeting ended with a clear mandate to Belichick: trade Garoppolo because he would not be in the team’s long-term plans, and then, once again, find the best quarterback in the draft and develop him. Belichick was furious and demoralized, according to friends. But in the end, he did what he asks of his players and coaches: He did his job. One morning in late October, Belichick texted San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and asked him to call. Belichick had long admired Kyle’s father, Mike, who not only had been one of the NFL’s smartest tacticians but had also personally defended Belichick to commissioner Roger Goodell during the Spygate scandal. At the combine this past February, Kyle, weeks into the 49ers job after being the offensive coordinator for the Falcons, met with Belichick for hours to learn from his team’s humiliating Super Bowl loss. Belichick believed that Garoppolo would excel under Shanahan, and when he and Shanahan connected on the phone, Belichick offered the quarterback for a second-rounder.”
The piece also reveals that Brady — who was in noticeably high spirits following the trade — didn’t do much in the way of mentoring Garoppolo during his time in New England.
“And Brady is famously unhelpful toward his backups — or, at least, a threat like Garoppolo. The two quarterbacks were friendly, but Brady — like Joe Montana to Steve Young and Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers — didn’t see it as his role to advise Garoppolo, even on matters as trivial as footwork, as nobody had helped him during his climb. Garoppolo played well in 2016, starting in place of the suspended Brady, and Belichick began to see Garoppolo as the final piece of his legacy, to walk away in a few years with the Patriots secure at quarterback. But after Garoppolo was knocked out of his second start because of a shoulder injury, he set up a visit at TB12. As he later told Patriots staffers, when he arrived, the door was locked. He knocked; nobody was there. He called TB12 trainers but nobody answered. He couldn’t believe it, Garoppolo told the staffers, and that night ended up visiting team trainers instead. Guerrero vehemently denies ever refusing to see any player, and Garoppolo was eventually treated at TB12 — but it was two weeks after he showed up for his original appointment, and only after a high-ranking Patriots staffer called TB12 to inquire why Garoppolo hadn’t been admitted.”
In all, the dysfunction in New England has potentially altered the course of the 49ers franchise for years to come, as Garoppolo looks like he has the ability to be a top five quarterback, something that has caused even Kraft to admit to those close to him that he might have made a mistake, according to Wickersham. Belichick on the other hand, “has taken pride in Garoppolo’s 5-0 record in San Francisco.”
