Bill Belichick has officially become the old man who yells at clouds. Then again, he was yelling at clouds long before he turned 70.
On Wednesday, Belichick had a prototypical exchange with reporters regarding whether the Patriots came close to making a deal at the trade deadline.
Here’s the first relevant question, from the transcript: “You mentioned last week that Eliot [Wolf] and Matt [Groh] would handle most of the business around the trade deadline. What did they convey to you around that time or afterward about how close you came to making a trade?”
“Yeah, we’re done,” Belichick said. “The trade deadline is over, so we’re moving on to the Colts.”
“Were you close?”
“Nothing happened, so we’re moving on,” Belichick said. “I don’t even know what close means. What does that mean?”
“As far as negotiations, as far as the round, the draft pick or a player? Were there extended negotiations?”
“I’ve had conversations that have gone on for months and nothing happened,” Belichick said. “I’ve had conversations that have gone on for six to ten minutes and the trade gets done. I don’t know what that means.”
Why didn’t he just say it’s all hypothetical?
It would be interesting to know whether the Patriots tried to play for a make a deal. Considering the way he raved earlier this year about Chase Claypool, it wouldn’t be a surprise to learn that the Patriots made a run at getting him, and that they were in it long an close enough to get a call when the Steelers decided to trade Claypool to Chicago.