Patriots Release Mohamed Sanu, Bill Belichick Stinks At GM Duties
Bill Belichick continues to prove that he has no idea how to construct a roster. His flurry of failures as Gm continues after his latest blunder. After giving up a 2nd round pick for Mohamed Sanu during the middle of the 2019 season, Sanu was released this offseason. An egregious mistake that never had a prayer at working.
Ian Rapoport was the first to report the news:
This isn’t a surprise considering the camp reports on Sanu. He’s been awful in practice. This is what Belichick said about Sanu not long ago.
“… More than the physical skillset really is the position that the receivers play. So, we have outside receivers and we have inside receivers and then have receivers that can, let’s say, play both or have some combination of skills where they can play both spots. All three are important. Some guys can be outside only, some guys can be inside only, some guys can have that flexibility,” Belichick told reporters during a video conference Wednesday, prior to Sanu’s release.
“In the end, I think it’s really more about production and performance, although size and skillset plays a part in that, as well. They are related, but really the most important thing is to be productive,” Belichick continued. “… Competition at that position has been good. As always, that’s the type of position where you can really see an individual highlight play or a play that may not be as good — a dropped ball or a spectacular catch — and those plays are a lot more visible and really easily identifiable relative to an interior line play or that type of thing.
“Now, again, with that position, it’s important to develop consistency. There’s a lot of time receivers are open, but the ball is thrown to the other side of the field or they’re covered, and so that’s all part of it, too. It’s not just those highlight plays that everybody sees but really the evaluation of the player’s consistency to win his route or block the player that he’s supposed to block in the running game as part of the run force and so forth. I think there are a lot of things at that position that are subtle to the naked eye, and it really comes down to, again, that play-after-play consistency. The highlight plays stand out — and they’re important, too, one way or the other — but I would say the consistency overall is also something that you can’t lose sight of,” Belichick concluded.
Sanu, 31, was terrible in his 8 games with the Patriots. New England gave up a 2nd round pick for Sanu which was an egregious over pay even if Sanu performed like he did in Atlanta. In half a season, Sanu recorded 26 receptions (on 47 targets) for 207 yards and one score. Sanu also ranked 62nd in yards per route run and notched a passer rating of 67.5 when targeted. That ranked 70th in the league.
At what point do we just acknowledge Belichick doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing when it comes to roster construction. He traded Jimmy Garoppolo for the same draft capital that he acquired Sanu for. The Patriots haven’t had a good draft since 2012 when they picked Dont’a Hightower and Chandler Jones. Best coach of all-time and always gets the most out of his guys. GM wise? The absolute worst.
