I don’t come here to bury Bill Belichick even if I am a Steelers fan who has taken his fair pot shots at Belichick for his past cheating scandals. I put out a diary questioning former Pitt player Lesean McCoy’s insinuations that Chip Kelly (who is a friend of BB) is racist. While I question Belichick’s need to get an edge everywhere, some unethically, I feel like he is a pretty good coach regardless of that edge he seeks. The way he uses players is impressive. Vrabel left the Steelers and became a better and multidimensional player with the Pats. I put this diary out because I hear whispers over the years and decided to lay it out in the open. Let’s have a fun discussion and move on. No need to tip toe over race. Let’s debunk the rumors that we know fly around whenever such moves happen. To be clear, this is NOT one of my series of “racial injustice” diaries that I have put up in the past.
So I see this news item.
The Bills had five days to decide whether to match New England’s offer sheet on wide receiver Chris Hogan.
Actually, Hogan is more than just a wide receiver. He’s a former lacrosse playing, New Jersey-living, left-footed punting bundle of grit, who seemed destined to play for the Patriots the moment the Dolphins cut him in 2012.
He will almost certainly go on to many Pro Bowls.
The Patriots gave him a three-year, $12 million contract which was heavily front-loaded, taking advantage of the Bills’ tight salary cap situation.
I gotta be honest here. Some thoughts go through my mind whenever i see Belichick sign so many white players in a league where black players dominate in talent. One of them — is belichick a little prejudiced? Does he think white players are smarter for his system(maybe prejudiced)?
But then I dismiss those thoughts quickly as other thoughts emerge. Maybe, a white player with inferior physical tools is more likely to be smarter to compensate for the lack of elite physical tools to make it in a league like this(a thought process that is smart and not racist). Or maybe regardless of intelligence, these guys have football quickness that is discounted by many teams which look at all physical measurables. Look at how the Steelers got Antonio Brown who is football superfast even if he is merely fast in term of camp measurables and is considered short. Maybe, that’s why he gets these small white WRs? This is a coach who had early success with mostly black WRs like Branch, Troy Brown(who was used in versatile roles indicating Belichick thought highly of his intelligence). Not to mention, Randy Moss. I am also not referring to someone like Gronk who is Hulk personified and would have gone pretty soon to some other team if NE didnt take him though I am surprised he didn’t go earlier. Since I didn’t follow Gronk in college, I am amazed he wasn’t a high first rounder with those physical tools.
It is a fact that in recent years, he has gone for a lot of white WRs or hybrid WR/RBs like Welker, Edelman, Amendola. I am surprised he didn’t pick up Woodhead. And then you see Chris Hogan. heh heh. NOw, in absolute numbers, that’s not a lot, but take out GB and NE, how many white WRs are there in the entire league?
However, at the end of the day, Belichick has gotten amazing success from all of these guys. When Amendola initially had an off year, he had to take a drastic paycut and he accepted. Otherwise, BB would have gotten rid of him fast. Belichick is all about what can you do for me today, regardless of race. (Amendola’s contract revision being a good indicator of that)
Maybe, it’s the Celtics from 30 years ago scenario which can cause suspicion about racial intentions among some. Or maybe, it’s just that other teams just undervalue white WRs the way black QBs used to be undervalued not too long ago. Guys like Welker and Edelman were undervalued by other teams(though part of it was their height too). Credit to Belichick for recognizing that. This is a guy who seeks every edge and going for a white WR is the equivalent of an arbitrage opportunity the same way Seattle got great value out of drafting a short QB in Russel Wilson while RG3 got all the hype. I think this idea of white WRs gets more noticed in NE only because their OL is also mostly white(again, a lot of NFL teams have a lot of white OL players too but then they might have just black WRs).
You see the QB, a couple of WRs, TE, return man, OL as white, the optics could be misleading as far as coach’s intentions to some casual fans wondering about it(whether they are racists or outrage addicts on either side to justify their viewpoints). And this is why I put out a diary with a matter of fact title. Race doesn’t have to be polarizing. I go to sports bars a lot and for some reason, people just open up to me about race in both good and bad ways. The talk I heard in the past were from both sides which I did not agree with. One side would say “see this is a good example of how a smart coach thinks more white players means smarter team for his system”. Another would say “hmmm, something in that Boston water. Team pandering to their fanbase.” or another group woud say “what’s up with that. Is Bill a little racist?” . These are not my perceptions, (Sorry i have to be repetitive because people seem to be confusing my observations about other people’s perceptions to be mine). Moral of the story: expand your willingness to hire somebody beyond race and the possibilities open up.
I think this is good for the NFL to still have good white players at offensive positions other than QB and OL. So why did I name the diary the way I did? Because it should be no big deal that Belichick signed another white WR. The title can be seen as a rorschach test for what you think about that.
P.S.:I think equality is finally coming to the NFL for black QBs It’s a sign of true equalty when a crappy black player gets the same opportunity as a crappy white player, not just when a good black player gets the same opportunity as a good white player. Though, I still cringe when I see racist statements from some white fans about guys like Cam newton (if you don;t like his celebration, no need to call him a thug). I think equality is coming to coaches too thanks to the Rooney rule, though there are still some racist fans who are quicker to turn on a black coach when things go bad.
I reformatted the diary to give emphasis to the points I didn’t want to see get lost in a diary that could give off the wrong impression.