Bill Belichick played with the heartstrings of two fanbases this season.
With one word, the Patriots’ mastermind uplifted the 49ers and spurned the Browns when he dealt quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to San Francisco in October for a second-round pick in this year’s draft. The Browns, who had been actively pursuing Garoppolo up until the 49ers shocker, found out what they were missing when Tom Brady’s former backup won all five games he started to end the 49ers’ season.
What’s suspicious about the way the deal unfolded is Belichick’s decision to go with the option that benefited the Patriots less, as the Browns had been open about their willingness to hand over some prizes, according to Cleveland.com. On the table already was the Browns’ other 2018 first-round pick, acquired in the Brock Osweiler trade with the Texans, which has turned into this year’s No. 4 spot, and they reportedly were ready to add more pieces to that haul.
Two days after the Browns last contacted the Patriots about their Garoppolo interest and were informed he wasn’t available, according to the website, the 26-year-old was on his way to San Francisco.
The Browns had struck out without as much as a listen to their offer.
Since that Oct. 31 deal, details have leaked on the Patriots’ apparent snub of the Browns and since-fired executive vice president of football operations Sashi Brown, including Belichick’s twofold strategy to send Garoppolo to a team he felt would take care of the 2014 second-round pick but also one that was out of the Patriots’ conference. The Browns, though a non-threat over the past decade of losing seasons, reside in the AFC along with the Patriots.
Belichick took personal stake in Garoppolo’s future, as he felt the Patriots should hold on to him with Tom Brady 40 years old, according to the eye-opening ESPN report published over the weekend. But, according to ESPN, Robert Kraft ordered Garoppolo traded, and by steering Garoppolo away from Cleveland, Belichick believed he would be proven right about the young quarterback in retrospect. Belichick envisioned Garoppolo — whom he drafted in the second round of the 2014 draft — as the Patriots’ future, while Brady saw him as a threat, leading to tension between coach and quarterback, according to the report.
Whatever was truly going on in Belichick’s mind leading up to the deadline, his decision appeared to give the 49ers their franchise quarterback while creating more problems and question marks for the Browns.
Brown’s failure to land Garoppolo or A.J. McCarron from the Bengals this year — a botched negotiation that made Cleveland the butt of more jokes — ultimately led to the VP’s ousting. Twelve hours later, former Chiefs GM John Dorsey was hired in his place, though that did little to salvage the Browns’ 2017 disaster, the second 0-16 season in NFL history.