Every now and then Bill Belichick sings the praise of an individual player. Usually he deflects specific player questions into team generalization. You know the drill. A reporter asks about a certain player who’s struggling or shown promise and Belichick responds with something along the lines of “the player did some good things, needs to improve on things, we all need to improve on things, including the coaches.”
If you’re like me you just tune these responses out by now. Not that they really bother me. I get it. All of Belichick’s answers are well-crafted, not for the reporter, but for the specific player and for the team. Belichick doesn’t coach through the press, at least in a negative sense.
But every now and then Belichick throws some glowing praise at a player and more often than not it’s some random guy you never really gave much thought to.
That was the case on Monday, when Belichick threw some love at Brandon Bolden.
Brandon’s played for us on all three downs. He’s played on the early downs. He’s played in sub situations. He’s a smart player and has a good set of skills. I mean, he can run, he can catch, he can pass protect, and he’s given us a lot of production and leadership in the kicking game. So he does a good job in the room with it being the running back room or in the special teams room of being prepared, helping out the younger guys. He’s a good communicator, so things on the punt team, punt return where things can happen pretty fast and you need to make some adjustments, he’s good at that, very good in blitz pickup and his understanding of the passing game. So, he’s a four-down player, three-down offensive player with versatility in the kicking game and all the different phases.
That doesn’t sound much like a player who’s at the center of most Patriots 53-man roster debate right now. It sounds more like one of the key players to the Patriots 2017 season.
This isn’t the first time Belichick has given this kind of praise to a player who most of us on the outside would consider “just a guy.” Take this quote from him after the Pats re-signed Jonathan Freeny to a new contract last season.
“Jonathan is a very dependable player, he’s able to (play) a lot of different roles with us. He can play inside and outside, on the line of scrimmage and off the ball defensively. He’s been a very valuable player for us in the kicking game, obviously with some size. He’s been a four-phase special-teams player. “One of our, I’d say, overall top workers in terms of the offseason program, preparation, training. Always does things right. Works hard. Doesn’t say a lot but is very dependable and consistent. I think everybody in the organization looks up to him.”
Again, this doesn’t sound like a player I cringe imagining playing any kind of role outside of special teams this year. A slow defender who’s a liability against the run.
No one is going to tell me that Bolden and Freeny should be significant players outside of special teams this year, if they do in fact make the team. And I can make a pretty good case, specifically Rex Burkhead and Harvey Langi, why they won’t make the team, but Belichick makes it hard to be dismissive of these kind of players with this kind of praise.
Not to take anything away from either as special teams players and I think that’s what this all speaks most to — how much value the Patriots put on special teams. As Mike Lombardi mentioned in his “How to Beat the Patriots” article, winning on special teams is absolutely critical. You must have an “organizational commitment” to special teams. How many times have we seen a big game swung by a big special teams play? Bolden’s made a few of them himself.
Bolden’s also a really good player to have around because he knows what he’s doing and can set the example while keeping the players and the press in the dark about the actual plan at running back. Hence why you see Bolden get a lot of top reps in training camp. I highly doubt Bolden’s going to be a factor at running back this year, but when the most critical thing is doing the right thing against air in practice, he’s a good player to set the pace. It’s just when you get him in a game at running back, a playmaker he is not. He had a career-low one carry last year.
Reading between the lines I think it’s also interesting the message that Belichick is sending to his team through this kind of praise. Bolden and Freeny do things the right way. They might not be Dion Lewis and Dont’a Hightower talented, but the way they go about their jobs and how they’ve shown versatility, even if it’s not high-end versatility outside of special teams, goes a long way in New England. Probably further than it goes anywhere else.
This kind of leadership from the “low end” of the roster is so critical to building a strong top-to-bottom roster, but you wonder at what point is it time to move on to players who might have a higher ceiling?
Will this kind of praise from the head coach mean an inside shot at a roster spot for these two players? I don’t think so. But the example they provide should help produce the next generation of special teams stars and maybe one of them can emerge into a more significant role on first, second and third down in a way neither Bolden nor Freeny have been able to.
this is a very elementary response/anecdote but somewhat similar. one of my best friends growing up was a slow, fairly unathletic kid until he got to college. still, he competed hard every day in 3 varsity sports (soccer, basketball, baseball) and was always the example our coaches would use to illustrate the type of effort and commitment we should all have. obviously bolden is a world class athlete in his own right but a role player in the context of a football team. i agree that BB is using him as the example other players should look to as to how much work and effort they put in day to day.