New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick might not have the most successful coaching tree, but his front office tree is currently flourishing. Twitter user PatriotsSB49 and ESPN’s Mike Reiss have both highlighted how the personnel folks groomed by Belichick are atop the rest of the league.
#Falcons, #Bucs, #Titans and #Lions raided the #Patriots personnel dept.#Texans took coaches/ex-players.
— PatriotsSB51 (@PatriotsSB49) December 16, 2016
All 6 teams are in 1st place.
Earlier this year, we highlighted a picture of the five main branches of the Belichick executive tree, including Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio, Titans general manager Jon Robinson, Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht, Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff, Falcons assistant general manager Scott Pioli, and Lions general manager Bob Quinn.
We would be remiss if we didn’t also highlight the Patriots influence on the Houston Texans coaching staff.
The Texans and Titans are tied atop the AFC South. The Falcons and Buccaneers are tied atop the NFC South. The Lions are currently leading the NFC North and are the #2 seed in the NFC. Every single team that stems from Belichick’s executive tree is either first, or tied for first in their division.
Reiss highlights Patriots director of college scouting Monti Ossenfort as a possible Patriots executive that another team might want to poach to be their general manager. Ossenfort replaced Jon Robinson and has held the same role since 2014.
We often look at coaching turnover as a key aspect of the Patriots consistency, with particular focus on the future of Josh McDaniels and Matt Patricia, but it’s easy to overlook how well the Patriots have been able to replenish their talent in the front office on an annual basis.