Report: Belichick let Steelers move up in draft to hose Jets taken on the South Side (Steelers)

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Bill Belichick.

The Steelers did not have to pay too much to move up from the No. 17 pick up to the No. 14 pick in last week's NFL Draft to take Broderick Jones

It only cost Omar Khan and Co. an additional fourth-round selection -- pick No. 120 -- to swap with New England to take the Georgia offensive tackle, a move which, from the Steelers' perspective, was a no-brainer as it landed a franchise-caliber left tackle to block for 2022 franchise quarterback Kenny Pickett.

But, according to a report from The Washington Post, the Patriots' motive for trading was slightly different from just swapping first-round picks and gaining a fourth-rounder.

Specifically, the decision was rooted in Bill Belichick's disdain for the Jets.

Per the report, Belichick specifically moved away from the No. 14 overall selection in the draft -- one pick ahead of the Jets -- in order to keep his division rival from picking Jones at No. 15 overall.

One NFL general manager, speaking on anonymity, told The Washington Post that Belichick "sold low" because he knew the Steelers were going to draft Jones, the player that Jets general manager Joe Douglas was supposedly set on taking. Per the report, that same general manager was "keeping tabs" on a potential trade up with the Patriots.

"They should have had to give up a (third-round pick) and not a four to move up there,” the anonymous GM said. “Belichick did it just to f*** the Jets. He sold low because he knew the Steelers were going to take the kid the Jets wanted to take.”

There is a connection to be made with the Steelers' front office to the Jets' general manager Douglas, as Steelers assistant general manager Andy Weidl spent time with Douglas within the Eagles organization from 2016 to 2019, until Douglas left to become the Jets' general manager. So, while it's not unreasonable to believe Weidl had an idea that Jones could have been an enticing player for Douglas, a trade partner still needed to be found.

As another personnel executive told The Washington Post in the same report: “Bill will try to screw them over any chance he gets. He knew exactly what he was doing.”

The Jets, perhaps in a panic over the suddenness of the trade and the Steelers' subsequent drafting of Jones, drafted Iowa State defensive end Will McDonald IV with the 15th overall pick. McDonald had earned some first-round grades, but the consensus didn't have him rated as highly as Pitt's Calijah Kancey, Clemson's Myles Murphy and Bryan Bresee, and Georgia's Nolan Smith, all defensive linemen who were drafted in the first round after McDonald.

The Jets turned around and drafted offensive linemen with their next two selections: Wisconsin center Joe Tippmann in the second round (pick 43) and Pitt left tackle Carter Warren in the fourth round (pick 112). They were thought to have been in the market for a new franchise left tackle to block for Aaron Rodgers, who the Jets traded a massive package of picks for. The trade including the swapping of the Jets' 13th pick with the Packers' 15th pick, and the Jets giving up the No. 42 pick and the No. 207 pick in the sixth round of last week's draft, plus a conditional 2024 second rounder that becomes a first rounder if Rodgers plays 65% of the Jets' offensive snaps this season.

The Jets enter the 2023 season with 37-year-old Duane Brown and former first-rounder Mekhi Becton as their projected starting tackles. Becton played in just one game in 2021 and missed all of the 2022 season with right knee issues.

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