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NFL Rumors: Bill Belichick’s stubbornness will be Patriots’ downfall

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is one of the greatest minds in football, but he’s also one of the most stubborn, nearly iron-clad in his ways. He’s like that friend who you know needs therapy more than anyone else, but he refuses to go.

A report from Chad Graff of The Athletic revealed that the Patriots weren’t planning to rebuild their wide receiver corps all that much this offseason. One of Graff’s sources believed the Pats would sign a veteran at the position rather than use their first-round pick on one in the 2023 NFL Draft.

This information shouldn’t come as a surprise knowing Bill Belichick’s draft history, one in which he has year after year shown a puzzling allergy to wideouts. Since becoming New England’s head coach, Belichick has owned 14 picks in the top 30 of the draft, and he did not choose a wide receiver once.

With Jakobi Meyers set to enter free agency, the Pats only have washed-up vets like Devante Parker and undeveloped talent like 2022 second-rounder Tyquan Thornton holding up the passing attack.

This past season, the Patriots ranked in the bottom half of the league in passing yards and suffered from having a defensive coordinator call plays on the offense. Belichick fixed that mistake by hiring former OC Bill O’Brien earlier this year, who has an impressive track record in New England already and should be able to rein in Mac Jones’ fiery personality.

Still, all of last year’s serious contenders invested in their wide receiver position in some way: the Bengals are still riding the high of drafting Ja’Marr Chase, the Chiefs added who knows how many guys to their wideout corps, the Eagles took a gamble on A.J. Brown — is Belichick just setting up Jones for failure in 2023? Is this the year of Bailey Zappe instead?

Belichick’s hubris and unwillingness to address one of his roster’s most needy and premium positions will continue to hurt New England for as long as he stands at the helm. Just go to therapy, Bill. It’ll make your legacy so much better.