The expectation is that Bill Belichick has coached his final game for the New England Patriots, but what if he and team owner Robert Kraft can find common ground?
One possibility is Belichick could retain his head-coaching duties while relinquishing his responsibilities as general manager. On Monday, he was asked whether he would be willing to do so.
"Look, I'm for whatever collectively we decide as an organization is the best thing to help our football team," Belichick answered. "And, I have multiple roles in that, and I rely on a lot of people to help me in those responsibilities. If somebody's got to have the final say, I rely on a lot of other people to help. And, however that process is, I'm only part of it."
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Some took that response as Belichick being open to parting ways with his GM power. Our Tom E. Curran, however, isn't buying it.
He explained why on Tuesday's episode of Quick Slants.
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"From (Belichick's) answer, we got a whole lot of folks saying, 'Hey, Bill's willing to relinquish GM duties.' To which I say, 'Come on.' The guy is a master linguist," Curran said. "He said he'd be in favor of 'collectively, what we decide as an organization is best to help our football team.' He's part of that collective, but do you think he's gonna agree to punt on final say? You think, for instance, he's gonna be fine with wanting Jayden Daniels at No. 3 and somebody else saying, 'No, Bill, we're not doing that. We're actually trading down'? Or, is someone telling Bill that a fat chunk of cap space is gonna be spent on something Bill disagrees with? Again, come on.
"Somehow though, Bill, in this answer went from saying in 2022, 'Ultimately, it's my responsibility like it always is. So if it doesn't go well, blame me,' to now he's just a spoke in the wheel. He's just another bozo on the bus, huh? Come on."
Belichick has handled GM duties for the entirety of his head-coaching days with the Patriots and the Cleveland Browns. Perhaps he's willing to dial it down at age 71, but that doesn't appear likely.
Our Phil Perry also shut down the notion of Belichick giving up his GM responsibilities.
"It's not realistic. It's not conceivable that that would be a functional relationship with whoever is maybe quote unquote above Bill Belichick in that instance," Perry said on Monday's Early Edition.
Belichick and Kraft met on Monday, though no decision was made on the longtime head coach's future with the organization. Kraft's decision only became more difficult when Mike Vrabel became available on Tuesday.
You can watch the full episode of Quick Slants below: