The tough news continues to pile on for the New England Patriots. It's been reported that former head coach Bill Belichick was interested in drafting AJ Brown and Deebo Samuel out of college, but their visits to Foxbourgh didn't impress him. This led to the Patriots drafting Arizona State wide receiver N'Keal Harry in the first round.
“Before that draft, Patriots scouts were high on (South Carolina's) Deebo Samuel and (Ole Miss's) A.J. Brown. The two came to Foxborough together on a visit and had been traveling together all week. As such, they had a good, jovial ability to poke at each other and laugh together, and Belichick was leery that they weren’t taking the visit seriously enough,” per Albert Beer and Patrick Andres at Sports Illustrated.
Harry wound up being a bust for the Patriots, while Brown and Samuel are two of the best receivers in the league. This decision for Belichick and his staff came in 2019, close to where the decline of the team started. New England was a juggernaut with Tom Brady in the building, but the end of the Belichick era concluded with head-scratching decisions and losing seasons.
Drafting either Brown or Samuel could have changed the trajectory of where the Patriots stand, but it's also likely they wouldn't have been the same players they are today if they were in New England. Both play with free-flowing confidence that doesn't sit well with the Patriots. They could have been stars in New England, but Belichick's decision to pass on them may have been beneficial for both Brown and Samuel.
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