Football Stuff Today …

Last week, a reader wanted to know my current thoughts about Bill Belichick.  I suspect these are not going to be satisfactory to many folks.  The BIG question in my mind about Bill Belichick is this:

• We know that he is a great football coach and that he had success at the NFL level for about three decades, but can those skills and coaching techniques translate to the Division 1-A collegiate level?

Currently, the “Belichick Story” has nothing to do with that question and had focused in on his “relationship” with a woman one-third of his age.  The intensity of the “investigations” into this “relationship” are even more smarmy than the relationship itself.  By all appearances, they are two consenting adults whose actions are scrutinized only because one of the participants is a “recognizable person”.  So, my current thought on the matter is to ignore this story for a week and it will dry up and blow away.

A secondary question in my mind about Bill Belichick is this:

• Does he really intend to coach football at UNC for real or is this merely a way to assure that his son gets that head coaching gig when Dad bails at the eleventh-hour and fifty-ninth minute?

Once again, a little “benign neglect” [Hat Tip to Daniel Patrick Moynihan] will yield an answer to the secondary question more certainly than any sort of “probing”.

Moving on …  I want to look at the offseason activities of the Pittsburgh Steelers; I think they have been unusual.  Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the Steelers are the only team in my memory ever to jettison their leading passer from last season (Russell Wilson) and their leading rusher (Najee Harris) and their leading receiver (George Pickens).  I am not trying to say that those three players are great; they are all of “starting quality”, but for a team to clean house to that degree in one offseason is more than unusual.

I mentioned the Pickens trade to the Cowboys last week and I want to elaborate on it a bit.  George Pickens is not the best WR in the NFL, but he qualifies as a starter for a boatload of teams.  The Cowboys got him for a third-round pick in 2026 and a late-round pick-swap in 2027.  Excuse me, that appears to be a stone-cold bargain for the Cowboys who desperately need another WR for their roster.

My guess – – and it is only a guess – – is that the Steelers’ organization had had their fill of Pickens’ antics and just wanted him gone.  Last year, Coach Mike Tomlin said Pickens needed to “grow up in a hurry” after he got two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in a game; and later in the season, Pickens was almost an hour late arriving for a scheduled game.  Now, before you conclude that the Cowboys are the clear winners in this matter, consider that the Steelers have a history of trading away talented wide receivers with “maturity issues” and surviving the aftermath:

1. In 2019, the Steelers traded Antonio Brown to the Raiders for what appeared to be a bag of beans.  Brown never played a down for the Raiders and ended his career walking off the field shoulder pads in hand in the middle of a regular season game for the Bucs.
2. In 2022, the Steelers traded away Chase Claypool to the Bears who subsequently traded him to the Dolphins in 2023.  Currently, he is on a 1-year deal with the Bills.
3. In 2024, the Steelers traded away Diontae Johnson to the Panthers who then traded him to the Ravens in the middle of the 2024 season.  After bouncing around on the waiver wire at the end of 2024, he signed a one-year deal with the Browns for 2025.

The Steelers seem to have a knack for drafting talented – – and flawed – – WRs and then trading them away for seemingly small prices and moving on as an organization.  It will be interesting to see how George Pickens fares with a star on his helmet.

Switching gears …  Darek Carr surprisingly announced his retirement from the NFL over the weekend.  Carr says he has a shoulder injury that requires surgery and rehab that would negate the entire 2025 season and thus he chose to hang up his cleats.  One report I read said that by retiring as opposed to having the surgery and going through the rehab and collecting the guaranteed money in his contract, Carr left $30M on the table.  Not to worry, if my calculations are correct, Derek Carr made something in the neighborhood of $200M over his NFL career; so, you are not liable to see him in a homeless state any time soon.

But leaving $30M “on the table” does make me wonder:

• Did the doctors tell him that the surgery/rehab would be arduous and that there is only a 50/50 chance for a full recovery?
• Does he realize his “fire for the game” is diminishing and his moral compass does not allow him to collect that $30M under “false pretenses”?

I obviously don’t know the answer(s) here, but I do know that the New Orleans Saints have a precarious QB situation now.  Here are the QBs on their roster:

• Jake Haener
• Spencer Rattler
• Tyler Shough – – 2^nd round pick in this year’s Draft.

We saw both Haener and Rattler in starting roles last year.  Neither one inspired much confidence.  The Saints have a rookie head coach (Kellen Moore) whose reputation is as an offensive innovator.  That situation could be fun to watch if it heads in a positive direction or it could be a massive dumpster fire.

Finally, since today dealt with football matters, let me close with something from Bear Bryant:

“If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it. That’s all it takes to get people to win football games for you.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………