Gasper: Could Kraft bring Belichick back for one more year?
On Friday’s Felger & Mazz program, Christopher Gasper joined the show to explain the latest on Bill Belichick’s job security.
WHAT ARE YOU HEARING ON BELICHICK?
Parts of conversation abbreviated for clarity.
Jim Murray: There’s another job opening in the NFL. One of the great morons of our lifetime, Brandon Staley, has been fired by the L.A. Chargers. Where do you feel like we’re at with the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick’s departure?
Chris Gasper: A lot is being reported by Tom Curran and Jeff Howe. Those guys are excellent reporters. I think that’s absolutely 100 percent true and the intention of the Patriots at this point. This whole thing to me depends on what the exit strategy would look like. This has to do with whether or not the exit can be executed if that makes sense.
I think this thing could turn into potentially a game of chicken where maybe Robert Kraft goes to Bill Belichick and says, “Hey, we’re taking the personnel power away from you, just so that you know.”
Robert would probably expect Bill to say, “Alright, I’m out of here.” But what if Bill agrees to give up the personnel power?
What NFL teams out there would say to Bill Belichick at this point in his career, “Yeah, come in here. You’re going to have total autonomy. You’ll be our general manager and coach.”
And the general manager in Dallas will always be Jerry Jones, as long as he’s alive. It doesn’t matter how much he looks like Skeletor. Jerry is still the general manager. So, that’s not going to happen.
The question for Bill then becomes, “Well, if no one else is going to give me this, why am I going to leave that situation?”
So, this is all a way of me saying, like, I’m not sure at the end of the day that Robert Kraft–who loves to be liked–is going to have the temerity to pull the trigger and be the guy that fired or forced out Bill Belichick. I don’t think he wants that. He doesn’t want to be the guy who is responsible for both Tom Brady and Bill Belichick not finishing their careers here.
And if Bill kind of forces the issue or turns this thing into a staring contest, there’s a chance that everybody just throws up their hands and says, “Oh, what the heck, let’s just run it back for one more year. So, this is what’s the harm?”
SEGMENT AUDIO
Ryan Beaton is a producer for 985thesportshub.com. You can follow Ryan at @ry_beaton on Twitter.
Listen to Felger and Mazz from 2-6 every Monday-Friday on 98.5 The Sports Hub, with hosts Mike Felger, Tony “Mazz” Massarotti, and Jim Murray “Big Jim”. You can listen live in the Sports Hub App and subscribe to their podcasts here. Follow @FelgerAndMazz on Twitter to keep up with the show!
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