For the past few weeks, the New England Patriots sole focus has been their pursuit of DeAndre Hopkins. With only them and the Tennessee Titans hosting Hopkins for a free agent visit, it seemed like a two team race to secure the star wideout's signature. With Bill Belichick appearing to be invested in landing Hopkins, many Pats fans were excited to see the team looking to add to their lackluster wide receiver group.

Instead, the rug was swept out from underneath Patriots fans on Sunday afternoon when it was announced that Hopkins is planning on signing a two-year, $26 million deal with the Titans. The Pats desperately need help at wide receiver, so to see them miss out on the best possible option available to them as training camp draws near is wildly disappointing.

Chances are the addition of Hopkins wouldn't have totally changed New England's outlook in the stacked AFC East, but adding him was their ticket to potentially making some noise in their division. Instead, Belichick cheaped out again, and while the season hasn't even started yet, it's not a stretch to say that failing to land Hopkins could cost Belichick his job.

Why Bill Belichick's failure to sign DeAndre Hopkins could be catastrophic for him

It seems almost ludicrous to suggest that Belichick, who is entering his 24th season in charge of the Patriots, could get fired by the team at some point in the near future, but it's clear he's running out of time to right the ship. New England has been mediocre at best since Tom Brady jumped ship after the 2019 season, and a big reason why is because of Belichick.

Belichick didn't show much interest in finding a true replacement for Brady right after he left, tabbing Cam Newton as their new quarterback and laboring through an ugly 7-9 campaign. New England drafted Mac Jones in the first round the ensuing offseason, and put together a solid season in which they earned a Wild Card spot, before getting destroyed in the playoffs by the Buffalo Bills.

Last season, though, Belichick erased all the progress the 2021 squad made by arrogantly believing that some combination of Matt Patricia and Joe Judge could run the offense, and failing to make any true upgrades to the roster. It was an unacceptable season, and rumors have begun to percolate that Belichick could be on the hot seat if the Pats struggle again this season.

This offseason, Belichick has made moves on the edges to fine tune New England's roster, but it's fair to wonder whether or not they are actually a better team this season. Bringing in Bill O'Brien as the new offensive coordinator was a move that should have happened last year, but in terms of actually moving the needle, signing Hopkins was the best thing the Patriots could have done.

After a rather uninspiring offseason, it seemed like Bill Belichick had figured that out, and was about to luck his way into landing Hopkins. But Hopkins landed with Tennessee after Belichick refused to pay him the money he got from the Titans. That's a pretty awful look for a team that is trying to find their way back into contention in a loaded division.

There are a handful of reasons why that's the case. For starters, Hopkins is easily miles better than any wide receiver on New England's roster. Despite playing in just nine games last season, with half of them coming with a backup quarterback under center, he hauled in 64 passes for 717 yards and three touchdowns. With those numbers, he would have been third on New England's 2022 squad in receptions, second in yards, and tied for second in touchdowns. And again, he only played in nine games.

Beyond that, the money in this deal was extremely doable for New England. They already had enough cap space to make a feasible offer to Hopkins, and that was before they hammered out restructured deals with DeVante Parker and Ja'Whaun Bentley to free up a couple million more dollars on their salary cap, which was supposed to help them land Hopkins.

Instead, $13 million per year for an All-Pro caliber receiver was too steep a price to pay. And yet it wasn't too expensive to pay JuJu Smith Schuster $33 million over three years earlier this offseason. Even dating back to prior offseasons, Belichick is the guy who paid Jonnu Smith and Nelson Agholor handsomely, but couldn't manage to fork over the money that Hopkins wanted here. Where does any of this make sense?

Hopkins was the guy who could have been the savior for New England at wide receiver. Instead, they will trot out an uninspiring group that features the likes of Smith-Schuster, Parker, and Kendrick Bourne. Tight ends Mike Gesicki and Hunter Henry will help out too, but none of these guys can make the impact that Hopkins could have made.

Team owner Robert Kraft has made it clear he wants the Patriots to win a playoff game this season, but any hope of that happening just went walking out the door with Hopkins. New England could be a bit improved from last season, but that's not good enough in the AFC East. And unfortunately, that could come back to bite Belichick.

The past three seasons of Patriots football have been plagued by Bill Belichick's failure to adapt to the fact that he doesn't have the greatest player in NFL history running his offense. Heck, the 2023 season hasn't even started yet, and it looks like that could already be the case for New England. Missing out on a player may not seem like a huge deal, but in this case, Belichick's failure to land Hopkins could end up resulting in him getting fired if the Patriots struggle again this upcoming season.