On the opening night of the 2023 NFL draft, one first-round maneuver may have flown under the radar a bit to the casual football fan.
However, more astute fans may have raised an eyebrow when seeing the Patriots trade back three spots with the Steelers, letting them draft the last of the four top offensive tackle prospects still sitting on the board ahead of the Jets.
Pittsburgh moved up from pick No. 17 to pick No. 14, leaping over New York at pick No. 15 to grab Georgia’s Broderick Jones.
Two front office NFL executives, in speaking with the Washington Post anonymously, believe the trade was done solely to prevent their hated AFC East division rival from acquiring a top-tier talent of need.
One general manager pointed out that the lack of compensation the Patriots received: "They should have had to give up a [third-round pick] and not a four to move up there."
“Belichick did it just to f–k the Jets. He sold low because he knew the Steelers were going to take the kid the Jets wanted to take,” added the general manager.
After trading for Aaron Rodgers in the days prior to the draft, it was widely known that the Jets coveted offensive line talent to help protect their 39-year old quarterback.
“Bill will try to screw them [the Jets] over any chance he gets,” said another NFL personnel executive to the Washington Post. “He knew exactly what he was doing.”
𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: Steelers trade up to select OT Broderick Jones with No. 14 overall pick in 2023 NFL Drafthttps://t.co/k1PHcG47xv pic.twitter.com/ZCCmpeHOlt
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) April 28, 2023
With all the top offensive tackle prospects off the board, the Jets strengthened the opposite side of the ball, tabbing Iowa State edge rusher Will McDonald IV.
The Jets did invest in offensive line talent later in the draft, grabbing Wisconsin center Joe Tippmann in the second round as well as Pittsburgh offensive tackle Carter Warren in the fourth round.
Belichick and the Jets have had a bitter relationship to say the least and the documented bad blood runs deep. The eight-time Super Bowl winning coach was the head coach of the Jets in 1999 for just one day before resigning at his introductory press conference.
In 2007, "SpyGate" was born after Jets head coach Eric Mangini, a former Patriots assistant coach under Belichick, reported to the league that the Patriots were illegally videotaping opponents signals. Following an investigation, the NFL fined Bill Belichick as well as the Patriots in addition to stripping the team of their 2008 first-round draft pick.
Rodgers is very familiar with one-sided rivalries after torturing Bears fans for years as a member of the Packers, but he’s on the other side of the coin now as a member of the long-struggling Jets against the decorated Patriots. He’ll have an uphill climb to make to establish the same sort of dominance in New York, especially with the head coach of his newest rivals perhaps working overtime to make life tougher for him.
