Over the years, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has become known as one of the most ruthless and competitive coaches in the entire league, and he put that on display during the 2023 NFL Draft in the most subtle way.
During the draft, the Patriots completed a trade that allowed the Pittsburgh Steelers to move up from the No. 17 pick to the No. 14 pick. The Steelers didn’t even have to give up much to make the trade, giving the Patriots just the No. 120 overall pick in the fourth round.
And NFL executives and general managers seem to agree that Belichick likely made the trade to allow the Steelers to select Georgia offensive lineman Broderick Jones one pick before the New York Jets would have taken him at No. 15 overall.
“They should have had to give up a [third-round pick] and not a four to move up there,” an anonymous general manager told The Washington Post. “Belichick did it just to [censored] the Jets. He sold low because he knew the Steelers were going to take the kid the Jets wanted to take.”
An executive from another team agreed with that assessment.
“Bill will try to screw them over any chance he gets. He knew exactly what he was doing,” the executive said.
There aren’t many coaches in the league that would pull off something like that.
