By acclamation, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick is the greatest NFL head coach in history—with six Super Bowl championship rings to prove it. As a de facto general manager for the vast majority of his head coaching career, his team-builiding strategies shaped the modern NFL.
However, the seams of Belichick's methods began to show in his final years with the Patriots. As SI's Albert Breer wrote Thursday, Belichick made a crucial error in judgment in 2019 as New England sought to draft a wide receiver.
"Before that draft, Patriots scouts were high on (South Carolina's) Deebo Samuel and (Ole Miss's) A.J. Brown. The two came to Foxborough together on a visit and had been traveling together all week," Breer wrote. "As such, they had a good, jovial ability to poke at each other and laugh together, and Belichick was leery that they weren’t taking the visit seriously enough."
That led Belichick to fixate on wide receiver N'Keal Harry of Arizona State against his scouts' recommendations, and the Patriots eventually took him 32nd overall.
The rest is history. Harry lasted just three years with New England, while Samuel and Brown now have a combined four Pro Bowls under their belts with the San Francisco 49ers, Tennessee Titans and Philadelphia Eagles.
The anecdote serves as a cautionary tale for teams seeking to hire Belichick—and proof positive to football fans that nobody's perfect.
