The Patriots need to turn down every trade offer for Bill Belichick

The future of the New England Patriots head coach and general manager, Bill Belichick, has been the biggest story in the NFL the last couple of weeks. He is having the worst season of his Patriots career, and the sharks (Boston media) are circling the blood in the water. At least one northeast talking head, self-labeled as a Patriots insider, has suggested it has already been decided that Bill is coaching his last season in New England.

Despite credible NFL reporters like Ian Rappaport debunking this hypothesis, fans continue to speculate what the Patriots could get in return if they traded the league's all-time greatest coach. Bill does have another year on his contract, which means the Patriots could trade him, rather than release him and eat the remainder of that contract.

The reality is, that no matter what is offered by another team, the Patriots should just hang up the phone. I would say, "Don't pick up the phone," but teams might be calling about Mac Jones, and you definitely want to take those calls. There are two reasons to decline all offers.

Reason No. 1: The offers aren't going to be that good

Bill Belichick is 70 years old. He does want to break Don Shula's record, but he's not the same spring chicken who garnered a first and fourth-round pick from the Patriots back in 2000. Any team interested in him would hope he would be there for three seasons, five at the absolute most.

Even if the trade compensation is contingent on Bill making the playoffs, no team is offering a first-round pick for a guy they have to make the league's highest-paid coach after the trade. This isn't soccer, where teams give record-breaking contracts after paying record-breaking transfer fees. It's the NFL, and it doesn't work that way.

Be one of the educated fans. Don't be one of the social media trolls that think every guy on their team is worth a first-round pick, and all other guys in the league are worth seventh-round picks. In return for a 70-year-old coach, the Patriots would be lucky to get a second or third-round pick, even if their guy is Belichick.

Reason No. 2: There's no comparable replacement

If the Patriots trade away a guy who hung all six banners in Gillette stadium, they better have a major replacement teed up. Since Lombardi, Landry, Noll, Brown, and Walsh are unavailable, the Patriots would have to downgrade their coach.

The Patriots are poised to have a top-three draft pick in 2024, and the player they select will likely be a quarterback. Do they want to entrust a rookie QB to a rookie head coach? How did that work out for the Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence?

There has been talk of making a trade of their own for Titans coach Mike Vrabel. This means that there are folks who think a 55-45 career coach is an upgrade over the G.O.A.T. There are also people saying that linebackers coach Jerrod Mayo would make a great head coach. He may someday, but not today. Even if he was ready, he is a Belichick clone. So, the team gets better by replacing Belichick with Belichick?

Belichick is still the best choice to coach the team in 2024. He will get back the team's two best defenders, making an elite defense even better. He will have a competent quarterback, which he's been missing during this string of losing seasons.

Bringing Bill back in 2024 gives you a shot at the playoffs while replacing him ensures a 3-5 year rebuild. No matter who calls Jonathan Kraft's office, and no matter what they offer for Bill, they should not be taken seriously, and that call should end in a matter of seconds.