Belichick Deflecting Questions About Michael Bennett is Peak Belichick. So What Happens Now?
From Bill Belichick’s Thursday press conference:
Q: What happened with Michael Bennett that led to a suspension?
Belichick: Yeah, I’m not going to comment on any player’s personal situation.
Q: What do you see as a role for Michael Bennett for the rest of the season?
BB: Yeah, right now we’re focused on the Jets, so that’s what we’re working on.
Q: When it comes to bringing in a veteran player and asking him to do something different than he’s used to based on scheme, how difficult can that be sometimes for players?
BB: Yeah, I don’t know. You’d have to ask the player that. It varies probably from player-to-player.
That’s three well-aimed phasers fired from the Patriots media. But Belichick had his forward deflector shields boosted with auxiliary power from the impulse engines and they held. “Personal situation,” Focused on the [insert name of next opponent here]” and “You’d have to ask the player that” (when the player is not available) are basically his three most impenetrable defenses, and he used them all on this Michael Bennett situation. After all these controversies neutralized over all these years, you’re not about to catch him letting his guard down:
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… on this relatively minor one.
Which leaves us wondering what happens with Bennett. When the suspension was first announced, it wouldn’t surprise at all if he never plays another down in a Patriots uniform. By all accounts he got into a beef with Bret Bielema the morning after playing just 14 snaps in a win over the Giants. To his credit, he apologized:
It should also be noted that Belichick and Bennett should have a pretty deep reservoir of goodwill built up, owing to the trade for him, his contract extension, and the fact he was given the veteran’s consideration to show up late to camp, which he genuinely seemed to appreciate:
But we’re still left combing for clues in what little info we have to go on at this particular crime scene. And the witness statements aren’t giving us much to go on. To state the obvious, the Pats have the same options with Bennett that any team does this time of year. Play him, trade him, or release him.
Based on Bennett’s apology and Belichick’s deflection of all the questions, the first seems right now like it’s a perfectly viable option. He might have had a bad morning after a late game. Maybe forgot that mornings are for coffee and contemplation, spoke before he had his first cup and sincerely regrets it. Apology accepted. No hard feelings. Lessons learned and hugs shared, no hard feelings.
As far as trading him, the internet is filled with speculation they could move Bennett for some wide receiver depth, most notably Danny Amendola or Mohamed Sanu. Amendola is intriguing for all the obvious reasons, as another inside threat who knows the system and it dependable in the clutch. Sanu because he’s younger and, at this point, better than Amendola, and also from Rutgers. Though it’s hard to imagine a 1-5 Falcons team who’s likely going to fire everyone at the end of the season trading an asset like Sanu for anything other than draft picks. But if they could get a viable, slightly above average starting caliber tight end who can run block and catch 35-40 passes the rest of the way, I’d seriously consider it.
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Releasing Bennett? That to me seems like the least likely scenario. Yes, he’s become expendable. Ish. His role is less than we all thought it would be not because he can’t play, but because this defense is so stacked. It’s a Champagne Problem. He’s been leapfrogged on the depth chart by Jamie Collins making the kind of progress in Act II of his Patriots career that Pat Chung did, and by the revelation that has been Chase Winovich. But there will be times when other players on the Front 7 will be limited. It’s inevitable with 10 games still to go. So you’ll want a versatile, experienced veteran who can play all along the front, knows what it takes to go deep in the postseason, and by the way, has a fuckton to prove. Not to mention, this is a game plan specific team. The game will yet come when he’s just the right matchup nightmare for a particular offensive line and he’ll play 40 snaps.
Of course this presumes he hasn’t been a bigger pain in the ass than just this one bad hangover morning he had with Bielema. If that’s the case, and he’s already used up all the goodwill he’d earned back in July, the way we’ll find out is, he’ll be gone. It certainly won’t be from Belichick bearing his soul as his press availability. Here’s hoping this is the last we’ll hear of any of this.