Bill Belichick: Jonathan Jones “epitomizes what we want in a Patriot”

Posted by Michael David Smith on April 1, 2023, 8:25 AM EDT
Miami Dolphins Vs. New England Patriots At Gillette Stadium
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Patriots cornerback Jonathan Jones was only officially a free agent for a few minutes before he agreed to a new contract to stay in New England. And Bill Belichick was thrilled.

Belichick said that with the retirement of Devin McCourty after 13 seasons in the Patriots’ secondary, it was particularly important to keep Jones for what he does both on and off the field.

“That was a big one,” Belichick said, via MassLive.com. “We didn’t – especially with Devin, he gives us a lot of leadership and presence back there. He’s been a great player for us for a long time in a lot of different roles, including the kicking game, which is where he started. He epitomizes what we want in a Patriot player. It’s great to have him.”

Jones made the Patriots’ roster as an undrafted rookie out of Auburn in 2016, steadily increased his role on the defense and had his best year in 2022. Belichick knew Jones was a player he wanted back in New England.

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31 responses to “Bill Belichick: Jonathan Jones “epitomizes what we want in a Patriot””

  1. BB has a way better track record hitting on draft picks at the end of the draft or UDFA than early in the draft. Maybe have someone else pick early and BB pick late? Lol

  3. G00dellMustGo says:
    April 1, 2023 at 8:57 am
    BB has a way better track record hitting on draft picks at the end of the draft or UDFA than early in the draft. Maybe have someone else pick early and BB pick late? Lol

    22Rate This

    ———————-

    He doesn’t care where someone is drafted.

    If you were a Pats fan, you’d know that. Best nickel in football since 2017.

  4. He doesn’t care where someone is drafted.
    ——
    Maybe he should so the likes of Jordan Richards are UDFA instead of drafted in the 2nd round.

  5. A mediocre player who does not question anything Bill or the organization tells him to do.

  7. ‘He epitomizes what we want in a Patriot”. Does that mean giving the home town discount each time during contract negotiations?

  8. Maybe he should so the likes of Jordan Richards are UDFA instead of drafted in the 2nd round.

    How lame is it for someone to pick out a draft whiff and say, See, this proves my point.
    I can pick out any team and site a ridiculous pick. I can also list all the Pro Bowlers Belichick has drafted largely from the end of every round. Every team has a N’Keal Harry too(drafted #32).

  10. How lame is it for someone to pick out a draft whiff and say, See, this proves my point.
    ——-
    It does prove it especially when my point is BB has had way more success on day 3 and UDFA-land than earlier on the draft. 🙂

    Who was the last great second round pick of the Patriots who stuck with the team? Jimmy? Dugger and Uche are promising but I wouldn’t call them great yet. Barmore to a lesser degree.

    What about his first round picks? Chandler Jones? Way too soon to call Mac Jones anything but TBD.

    When a coach and GM is considered one of the best if not the best imo the bar ought to be a little higher than “but other teams!”

  11. I would even argue that Richards was a more egregious reach than anything other teams have done. UDFA level talent drafted in the 2nd round. Come on man.

  12. How lame is it for someone to pick out a draft whiff and say, See, this proves my point.

    Hopefully you feel that way about it when done by your fellow fan boys. Seems you don’t like it…so don’t be a hypocrite And do it,
    Pats fans want it both ways and will use their mendacious skills in the process…that’s the Patriot way.

  13. Who determines guys like Duggar, Uche and Barmore are not worthy 2nd round picks? Mel Kiper? You? Watch what these guys get for their 2nd contracts. Garoppolo wasn’t a good 2nd round pick(362)? He’s 40-17 in the NFL and has been to a SBowl. JRichards was overdrafted, but who says he was an UFA? Todd MCShay? He spent 9 yrs in the league. MJones stinks? Go back and look at any redraft from that year. MJones goes top 10 in almost all of them. Belichick goes by his board not anyone else’s. Draft record isn’t perfect, but it’s better than most.

    And, I don’t give a flying whatever what fellow fan boys say or do.

  14. And, I don’t give a flying whatever what fellow fan boys say or do.

    Oh yes you do as you wouldn’t comment in such a juvenile manner. As a typical sensitive Patsy fanboy criticism of any type towards your hero’s can’t be legitimate…Truly the reaction of a child. You have vociferously championed them in their good times hike up your big boy pants and take the trolling like what you did and continue to doll out…a lot to ask but surprise us.

  15. A child? Some people come on here and just want to call people liars and hypocrites. No interest in talking FB. They have little or no knowledge. Like a 9 year old at recess.

  16. How lame is it for someone to pick out a draft whiff and say, See, this proves my point.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    LOL, how lame can someone be to pick out 2 out of 41 playoff games (year after year after year after year) to prove the greatness of a coach? Even an average coach would have had 4-5 good games out of 41 games.

    Again, let us wait to see who from last 3 seasons will be Patriots HOF. I guess if there is one or two, you will pick them out for next 25 years to prove that Belichick the garbage made players much better, right?

    BTW, are you going to claim he made Judon better?

  18. …and it’s back to Crazytown.

    ++++++++++++++++++++

    With Brady, Patriots would have won the games against Raiders and Packers, you would not talk about how great the garbage was by inserting Patriots as OC.

    Without Brady, the topic is about if the garbage is coaching for his job in the coming season.

    and the fans of the garbage still try to deny that Brady made the garbage look like a genius.

  19. Weird. I don’t recall saying Mac Jones and Jimmy stunk …

    If your draft board has guys like Richards in the second round then it’s probably time to rethink how you evaluate talent. Bill seems to be a lot better at finding diamonds in the rough than finding talent at the top of the draft. Which is what I said at the top.

  20. I seem to remember a TE that was off many teams draft board that the Pats took in the 2nd round. They say he’s going to the NFL HOF. They call him Gronk. Not sure about the full name.

  21. And it’s back to crazy town….

    Between hypocrite Steeler fans (6-11 next year) and the logically and grammatically challenged ztoa or WLee or whatever he is this week, Pats columns always determinate quickly.

    And florio makes more Pats posts than any other team mainly because it draws clicks from haters who can’t stay away and get him advertising money

    It’s a never ending cycle.

  22. tedmurph says:
    April 1, 2023 at 2:13 pm
    I seem to remember a TE that was off many teams draft board that the Pats took in the 2nd round. They say he’s going to the NFL HOF. They call him Gronk. Not sure about the full name.M
    ———

    Good pick. Lots of them in the past. Now let’s look at the last 5-6 years

  23. Last 3 years look good to me, but jury is still out. 3-4 before that were bad drafts. Did BB hit on all 22 of his drafts? No. Did he win a lot of games with a lot of good/great players? That’s a resounding yes.

  24. tedmurph says:
    April 1, 2023 at 4:05 pm
    Last 3 years look good to me, but jury is still out. 3-4 before that were bad drafts. Did BB hit on all 22 of his drafts? No. Did he win a lot of games with a lot of good/great players? That’s a resounding yes

    ——

    Last three drafts:

    2022 Cole Strange – jury is still out
    2021 Mac Jones – jury is still out but could be a whiff
    2020 no pick
    2019 N’Keal Harry – huge whiff
    2018 Isaiah Wynn – whiff
    2018 Sony Michel – good player but taking a zero able RB in the 1st round -whiff
    2016/17 – no pick
    2015 Malcom Brown – out of the league already
    2014 Dominique Easly – whiff

    That’s a lot of bad picks

  25. I thought the discussion was the last 3 years draft picks. Now it’s the last 7 1rst round picks? Decide where the goal posts are to be moved to.

  26. I thought the discussion was the last 3 years draft picks. Now it’s the last 7 1rst round picks? Decide where the goal posts are to be moved to.

    +++++++++++++++++++++

    Grade 1 to 10, 1 is the worst, 10 is the best. Where do you rank Belichick’s draft.

    More, where do you rank Belichick’s coaching BEFORE and AFTER Brady, and where do you rank Belichick’s coaching during his time when he had Brady?

    More, where do you rank Patricia as an OC? You can’t rank him too low, because Belichick was not much better.

  27. 2022 Cole Strange – reach
    2021 Mac Jones – we’ll see this season
    2020 no pick
    2019 N’Keal Harry – lol
    2018 Isaiah Wynn – whiff
    2018 Sony Michel – should have been Chubb
    2016/17 – no pick
    2015 Malcom Brown – out of the league already
    2014 Dominique Easly – whiff

  28. Second Round

    2022 Tyguan Thornton – TBD but trending the wrong way
    2021 Christian Barmore – Promising, high ceiling but needs to stay healthy
    2020 Dugger/Uche – ditto
    2019 SlowJuan Williams – whiff
    2018 Duke Dawson – whiff
    2017 no pick
    2016 Cyrus the Virus Jones. whiff
    2015 Jordan Richards. Lol
    2014 Jimmy – good pick
    2013 Jamie Collins – good pick. Aaron Dcopson – whiff
    2012 Tavon Wilson – whiff
    2011 Glass-I Dowling – whiff

    Not exactly a stellar track record for the second round either in the last decade plus.

  29. The measure of a head coach and GM is wining and losing and no one has done it better in the free agency period than Belichick. In fact, he is closing in on being the winningest head coach in NFL history.

    With under two minutes to play, tie game, Patriots with the ball, and their first super bowl win on the line, John Madden called for Belichick to have Brady play for overtime. Brady was an inexperienced 6th round compensatory pick that no other head coach or GM wanted. He was playing because Belichick benched Bledsoe, who had signed a record breaking extension that offseason, in favor of Brady.

    The rest of the story is history. That wasn’t luck. Belichick knows what it takes a team to win, with each player doing his job, not one guy and not necessarily the first overall pick of the draft.

  30. Belichick knows what it takes a team to win, with each player doing his job,

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    LOL, what if his QB had failed? would you expect a QB like Peyton, Rodgers or Mahomes to do it WITH THAT SQUAD?

    Typical “Brady did the job but Belichick got credit”.

  31. Out of the last 5 draft years, 40 players drafted by the Patriot are still playing in the NFL. That averages out to 8 picks per year. I am not going to take the time to look at all of thee other 31 teams but no team comes close.

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