Four takeaways from Bill Belichick's Monday morning conference call

Patriots coach Bill Belichick held a season-ending conference call with the media on Monday morning, and he touched on a few different topics, including Malcolm Butler, Rob Gronkowski and what lies ahead over the next few months for him and the rest of the organization.


1. He was a little more expansive on the topic of Malcolm Butler and why he didn’t play a single defensive snap in the Super Bowl loss to the Eagles.

“I respect Malcolm’s competitiveness, and I’m sure he felt like could have helped. I’m sure the players felt the same way,” Belichick said. “But in the end, we have to make the decisions we feel are best of the football team. That’s what we did. That’s what I did. That’s really all I can say about that.”

Pressed on that for more details, he continued.

“I appreciate the question Mike,” he told ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “But it would be a much longer discussion. There are a lot of things that go into that. In the end, the final decision was what I said it was.”

When it came to the corners, he was asked what made Johnson Bademosi the best choice to play as third corner: “He practiced it the most.”

2. Following the loss, Gronkowski was surprisingly noncommittal about playing in 2018. He was asked about those postgame comments from the big tight end.

“Every person goes through somewhat of a process at the end of the season,” Belichick said. “I think everyone who is involved in an NFL season, they get pretty drained after a season like this. Then you go through the end-of-the-year process the following year. So, it’s the same for everybody. I certainly can’t speak for anyone else. You’d have to ask any individuals out there, particular to their own situation. I’d say five minutes after the game or the day after a game is not the best time to make those decisions.”

3. On if there’s anything new regarding the future Josh McDaniels. One report had him reconsidering a move to Indy to take that head coaching job.

“I have no idea,” he said. “You’d have to talk to those teams that are involved (in) the head coaching positions or people who are involved with those teams.”

4. There’s not a lot of down time on the NFL calendar, and he and the rest of the organization are preparing to jump into working on their game plan for free agency and the draft.

“It’s pretty much the same as it is every year,” he explained. “We have the same conversation this time of year. There’s a recap of the season that just ended, the wrapping up process. The 2018 season has already begun. So it’ll be a combination of all those things. There will be a lot of things that need to be addressed. A lot of stuff that needs to be talked about. Potentially, we'll see how some of this goes. But I don’t see today as the day that we need to make decisions on some of those things. We’ll see how some of these situations play out. Preparation for free agency and the draft process is already done, and is being addressed by our scouting staff, which they do a great job of. At some point, well have to work that into the process of getting caught up with them. And get ready for those events and the timing they occur under.

“I guess it’s a process,” he said. “We’ve been in these games and we won some and lost some. No matter how it turns out, you move on to next year. And that’s what we’ll do.”