AFC Notes: Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft, Aaron Rodgers, Garrett Wilson, Jets, Patriots

Jets

Jets QB Aaron Rodgers has spent a lot of time on the sidelines this season and knows that there are adjustments to make, with WR Garrett Wilson echoing his sentiments. 

“Anything in this building that we’re doing individually or collectively that has nothing to do with real winning needs to be assessed,” Rodgers told reporters, via Rich Cimini of ESPN. “If you want to be a winning organization and put yourself in position to win championships and be competitive, everything that you do matters. And the bulls— that has nothing to do with winning needs to get out of the building. So that’ll be the focus moving forward. That’s the focus of these [exit interviews].”

“Obviously, we’re all going to be on the hot seat next year,” Rodgers added. “It’s going to be an important year for all of us, and I love that. We exorcised a lot of demons this year. There’s still a lot of demons we have to exorcise, with playoffs and winning the division and all that good stuff, but our locker room stayed together when it would’ve been very easy for the offense and defense to get segregated.”

“What happened this season can’t happen again. … It’s got to be better,” Wilson noted. “We’ve got to make adjustments in the game. We’ve got to do things to counter what we’re getting and be able to put points on the board, because honestly, in the two years I’ve been here, it’s been tough. It’s been tough going. Football hasn’t been this hard as far as offense. I watch it on the sideline, and it doesn’t look that hard for the other team. We’ve got to figure something out to get it rolling, no matter who’s slinging it. I know Aaron will be an offense in itself because that’s just what he brings to the table. … He’s special, man. I pray that everyone in the world gets to see that next year. But, yeah, what happened this year can’t happen again.”

Patriots

Patriots owner Robert Kraft said taking away personnel decisions from former HC Bill Belichick would’ve caused confusion and said that option was discussed but was never on the table.

“We thought about [adjusting Belichick’s role],” Kraft said, via PFT. “But I’ve had experience running different businesses and trying to develop a team. Think about it, when you have someone like Bill, who’s had control over every decision, every coach we hire, the organization reports to him on the draft, and how much money we spend. Every decision has been his, and we’ve always supported him. To then take some of that power away and give it to someone else — accountability is important to me in every one of our companies, and where he had the responsibility and then someone else takes it, it’s going to set up confusion. And, ‘It was his pick and that was a bad pick’, or ‘He didn’t play them right’. It just wouldn’t work, in my opinion.”

Kraft acknowledged that Belichick’s power grew throughout his tenure with the team and it would be difficult to take it away from him.

“Just to be clear, he didn’t have all that power and rights [when he arrived],” Kraft said. “I don’t think it happened until after the third Super Bowl, but it slowly happened, and in my opinion he earned it. And it worked pretty well for most of the time. But all of us need checks and balances in our life. We need what I say — I call it, we need ‘Dr. No’s’ around us, people to protect us from ourselves. And as things evolve and you get more power, sometimes people are afraid to speak up. I’m speaking about all companies. I think it’s good to have checks and balances, but once you have [the power], it’s kind of hard to pull it away and expect to have the accountability you want.”

Patriots

• The Athletic’s Chad Graff wrote about what went wrong between the Patriots and HC Bill Belichick. He notes Belichick and owner Robert Kraft never had a particularly warm relationship. For instance, Belichick would walk past Kraft without acknowledging him in the team facility, like he would a lot of people. 
• Graff says Kraft sometimes felt frustrated by what he felt like were shots from Belichick about dated facilities, while Kraft gave Belichick whatever he asked for in terms of control and free agency money and never got any public appreciation. 
• In terms of football matters, Graff said Belichick planned to run counter to the way the rest of the NFL was operating by emphasizing defense and special teams and getting by with a strong running game and no turnovers on offense. He adds Belichick knew the Patriots’ personnel wasn’t as good on offense as the rest of the league, but he’d won a lot before by going against the grain. This time it backfired. 
• Patriots QB Mac Jones got on Belichick’s bad side in 2022 by going outside the building for advice, and Graff says Jones never really recovered from that in Belichick’s eyes. The coach is infamous for holding grudges, with Graff using the example of former Patriots WR Wes Welker who is not on speaking terms with Belichick now despite being one of the all-time greats in franchise history. 
• Graff points out Belichick’s shrinking circle of trust exacerbated issues with his personnel choices in his final years in New England, with no one who could materially push back on bad decisions when it came to draft picks or staffing. 
• He adds Belichick has also struggled more and more to relate to younger players, with fewer veterans in the locker room from the Patriots’ heyday who could translate and drive home his message with credibility. 
• Dianna Russini reports the Patriots never reached out to marquee head coach candidates like Michigan HC Jim Harbaugh, former Titans HC Mike Vrabel, or Lions OC Ben Johnson. 
• Ian Rapoport names several executives with ties to New England as candidates to keep an eye on for their general manager job, including former Raiders GM Dave Ziegler, former Titans GM Jon Robinson, Chiefs assistant GM Mike Borgonzi, and Bengals executive Trey Brown.
• Josina Anderson notes the successor clause in Patriots’ new HC Jerod Mayo‘s contract was not a new concept for the organization. The idea was pitched when Josh McDaniels was with the Patriots, but he ultimately decided to sign with the Raiders.