Clint Lamb
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The most successful coaches are often the ones who go the extra mile, as long as the time to do so doesn’t outweigh the benefits. Bill Belichick is one of the few who is willing to go that extra mile.
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin recently joined the Pat McAfee Show, and he shared one of the things that separates Belichick from most others: he’s willing to call and listen to college coaches’ evaluations of their own players.
Seems simple, right? Apparently, it’s not as common as you would think.
“We get some calls. Probably not as much as you’d think,” Kiffin said. “No disrespect, I think a lot of people in the NFL think, ‘We’ve got it figured out. We don’t need opinions from college guys.’ That may sound crazy to you, but that does happen.”
"We get calls… Not as much as you think. I think a lot of people in the NFL think "we've got it figured out" we don't need opinions from college guys"@Lane_Kiffin says Bill Belichick is one of the few NFL evaluators who call on college coaches opinions #PatMcAfeeShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/BUcTRWu3EU
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 7, 2021
It isn’t just first-round guys or top talent either. Belichick is willing to dig deeper to make sure he understands what his team is getting from guys going on Day 2 and 3 as well.
“I remember a guy in like the third round the night before the draft, him calling me to ask my opinion on him,” Kiffin continued, via Pro Football Talk. “Not even a first-round pick. So some people do it, and I think a lot of people don’t.
“The really good ones like him, he’s so smart. I remember it was a tight end — he was like, ‘OK, I remember you had Zach Miller 10 years ago with the Raiders or whatever it was. How do you compare him to him?’ That’s how smart he is, to be able to remember who you had and players you were around and compare them to. That’s why he’s so great at that.”
It’s an interesting revelation about the leading man for the New England Patriots. Taking the time to turn over every stone is important. Belichick is willing to do that, even though he hasn’t always gotten value out of his draft picks.
Follow Clint Lamb on Twitter @ClintRLamb.
Did the Hoodie forget to call Urb about Aaron Hernandez? Should have asked whether Urb knew about Hernandez’s homicidal tendencies, etc.
Man…if this ain’t the NE PR machine crankin’ out content then God didn’t make little green apples.
Tom E. Curran – NE Pats Insider/NBC Sports Boston (2/8/21): “The reality is the Patriots’ tight end situation is the worst in the NFL and it’s been that way two years running. That can’t be part of a master plan for success.”
GRONK: 2010-2018
BEFORE Gronk: 2000-2010:
Ranker.com – “Best NE Pats TEs of All Time”
#4 Ben Watson – 167 receptions/71 games/2,102 yds/20 TDs
#7 Martellus Bennett – 61 receptions/18 games/754 yds /7 TDs
#8 Daniel Graham – 120 receptions/63 games/1,393 yds/17 TDs
#11 Christian Fauria – 79/64/790/13
#12 Jermaine Wiggins – 30/20/336/5
#16 Michael Hoomanawanui – 20/45/289/1
#23 Tim Wright – 26/16/259/6
#24 David Thomas – 21/32/261/1
#25 Scott Chandler – 23/15/259/4
The players listed are from Ranker.com and are in the Top 25 All Time, with Gronk being #1.
I left out players before 2000, and NE did have some good, and one really good, TE before 2000,
I left out #5 Aaron Hernandez (2010-2012) and #19 Dwayne Allen (2017-2018) because they played during the Gronk years.
Clint, your article brings up Lane Kiffin and the convo he had with Coach Belichick about TEs, and that’s what made me do some data mining lol.
We know Coach Hoodie was never big on the offensive side of the ball, and it’s for sure every coach was looking at Gronk coming outta Arizona, so that’s no “gem of a find” for Belichick.
For me, the one constant Coach Hoodie had and came to rely on was the 6th Round pick in 2000 outta Michigan. The kid who did a lot of great stuff at Michigan (behind Brian Griese his first two years there), including beating Alabama in OT in the 1999 Orange Bowl his senior year.
When you drop to the 6th round not so many people think about you, so that chip on his shoulder served him (and Coach Hoodie) very well.