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Pats HC Bill Belichick shades Bucs, Rams, Jags for 'all-in' seasons
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports

Pats HC Bill Belichick shades Bucs, Rams, Jags for 'all-in' seasons

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is here for a long time, not a good time.

On WEEI's "The Greg Hill Show" Monday, Belichick compared cap spending versus cash spending, giving a glimpse into his strategies that achieved six Super Bowl victories as head coach.

"Cash spending isn't really that relevant. It's cap spending. Teams that spend a lot of cash one year, probably don't spend a lot of cash in the next year because you just can't sustain that. So we've had high years, we've had low years, but our cap spending has always been high. That's the most competitive position you can be in," Belichick said.

The Patriots dynasty was built off Belichick's ability to utilize late-round picks and undrafted no-names instead of breaking the bank on blockbuster deals for stars.

Belichick went on to slyly criticize the "all-in" approach — when a team goes on a shopping spree to stack its roster for a championship run, regardless of future consequences. Two recent examples are the Buccaneers in 2020-21 and the Rams in 2021-22, which both resulted in Super Bowl victories, but followed with slumps.

"You can't sustain the 20 years of success that we sustained by overspending every year without having to eventually pay those bills and play with a lesser team. If you look at the teams that have done that, that's kind of where some of them ended up: Jacksonville back in 2014, the Rams are going through it, Tampa is going through it now. I'm not saying there's anything right or wrong with it, it's just a different way of doing things and there's the results for doing that," Belichick said. 

There's certainly merit to Belichick's "all-in" stance. The Bucs (8-9) and Rams (5-12) both finished with losing records last season and now considerably lead the league in dead money this year — Tampa Bay with $76,760,366 and Los Angeles with $74,870,136, according to OverTheCap.com.

That said, dynasties are hard to come by, and playoff droughts are very real. Until Tom Brady joined in 2020, the Bucs hadn't made it past the Wild Card round since winning Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003. The Rams' dry streak was so bad the team had to move cities.

The Super Bowl victories put both the Bucs and Rams back on the map and skyrocketed their franchise values and increased morale. Forbes valued the Rams at $6.9 billion in 2023, ranking as the third-most valuable team in the NFL.

A dynasty will always be more impressive than a one-year wonder. But sometimes, when the stars seem to be aligning, it can pay off to dive in head first.

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