Bill Belichick is the Executive of the Year, Thanks to the Best Rookie Class of 2021

Jerry Thornton1/27/2022 9:00 PM

So it's been 22 years since Mr. Kraft and Bill Parcells resolved what Parcells had termed "The Border War." Hostilities were ceased with my personal friend RKK answering a phone call with a New Jersey accent on the other end of the line saying, "Robert? This is Darth Vader." By the time the two rivals had hung up, the Jets had the Patriots' 16th overall pick (traded to the 49ers, who took LB Julian Peterson), and Mr. Kraft had the only head coach he wanted. The one all the experts said he was crazy to even want, never mind giving up anything to get him.

And now, exactly 22 years after it became official, there's this:

Now, I could quibble about the choice of Mike Vrabel as Coach of the Year. But as Curt Schilling said when David Ortiz got elected to the Hall of Fame, the conversation shouldn't be about who didn't get in; it should be all about who did. Vrabel is a good coach and a Patriots legend and more power to him.

Besides, what is Belichick going to do with two awards? Even this Executive of the Year, as well deserved as it most certainly is - will just end up in a box in some store room in Gillette with all the other non-Lombardi trophies he's received. It'll be like the warehouse where they hid the Lost Ark at the end of "Raiders," never to be seen again.

No, the real prize here is not what The Pro Football Writers Association's opinion of him is. Or even the fact so many of their members have spent 20 years spewing nonsense like "The game has passed him by," and "He can't draft," and my personal favorite, the oft-repeated "GM Bill isn't doing any favors for Coach Bill." A true classic. And more relevant than ever, now that they're admitting that GM Bill is the best GM in the game, even 22 years into his mighty reign upon the throne of pro football.

And if anyone tries to dismiss this award - or even diminish it - with, "Well, what did you expect after he spent all that money in free agency?", like he bought this title, remind them of a few things. First of all, he didn't have all that money to spend by accident. He spent 2020 in Salary Cap Solitary Confinement, thanks to deals that helped him go to an unthinkable eight straight AFC championship games and three Super Bowls wins. That bill came due. He paid it with a 7-9 season in the middle of a pandemic. And with all that room on his credit card in a depressed market where practically everyone else was at their spending limit, he filled his cart.

And for that, he was questioned. "This isn't his way," they said. "This is the kind of thing we always rip other teams for when they do it," they said. And of course, "If GM Bill could draft, GM Bill wouldn't have to spend all this money."

When all he was doing was reading the market. Taking advantage of an anomaly in the market. And the of advantage he had created by having all that cash to spend. But that's not really how he came to win this award. It's mainly due to the fact that GM Bill drafted his sweatpantsed ass off. It's the fact that he put together the best rookie class of 2021 that he has a new major award.

Pro Football Focus (paywall) - With the help of PFF's Wins Above Replacement (WAR) metric, we ranked all 32 teams on the value of their rookie class over expectation given where each player was selected in the 2021 NFL draft. …
1. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
Why they're ranked here: Mac Jones was the most impressive rookie quarterback this season, earning an 80.4 PFF grade that ranked 11th overall. Christian Barmore became an impact player on the defensive line with 48 pressures that lead all interior rookie linemen. And Rhamondre Stevenson was a big part of the team's backfield all season.
How their top pick fared: Jones exceeded many expectations, looking assured at quarterback for the Patriots from Day 1. He was accurate with the football and didn't miss many throws, but he did not finish the season strong, with just one good game in his final six performances. Overall, Jones looked like he can be a solid starter moving forward, but questions remain about where exactly his ceiling is.
Best value pick: Stevenson finished the season with the best PFF grade among rookie rushers (79.2). He rushed for over 600 yards, with 433 of those yards coming after contact. Stevenson was able to break 31 tackles and average 3.26 yards after contact. He picked up the slack when starter Damien Harris was hurt. Stevenson had seven games with double-digit carries, topping out at 24.

Now bear in mind as you read this, we might not be done harvesting the fruit off this particular draft vine. Two very promising linebackers were basically redshirted this year, Ronnie Perkins (Stevenson's teammate out of Oklahoma with the 96th pick) and Cameron McGrone (Michigan, 177th). McGrone is especially intriguing since he was projected to go much higher, but dropped to the 5th round due to an injury in his final season in Ann Arbor. Add to them the name of WR Tre Nixon (UCF, 242nd), significant mainly because he was the final selection of Ernie Adams' illustrious career.

There's your EOTY Award, right there. That's how you lead your franchise out of the shadow of losing the best player the sport has even known. It's not the kind of trophy that will make anyone around here satisfied, whether or not that GOAT who left already got the one we value. But it's a reminder of how this team is still in the very best of all possible hands, even after 22 years. And counting.

When that seventh Lombardi is achieved, always remember that this award, this past offseason, and this most recent draft were the first steps in making it happen.

P.S. My choice for runner up: