New Engalnd Patriots: Bill Belichick hasn’t been sporting team logo lately

So why a possible rift?

It says here it may just be because of this offseason. For the first time in two decades, Mr. Kraft stepped in and intervened, and commented publicly on the personnel management of the team and his seeming displeasure with the same.

No long-time observer of this team can forget the Bill Parcells “groceries” rift and ultimate split from the team and New England. It happened over personnel control.

This offseason as has been written in this space, Mr. Kraft demonstrably and clearly expressed his dissatisfaction publicly with the Patriots quarterback situation (no doubt the Tom Brady fiasco had to enter into this comment) and recent drafts.

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The result was a truly un-Belichickian offseason. Belichick went all-in in the free agency market as never before.

In addition, he for once conducted a draft that actually seemed to be based on sensible decision-making rather than off-the-wall selections many of which subsequently flopped. And he took a quarterback in the first round.

Now, he has seemed rather unceremoniously to have dumped the Patriots’ insignias on his person in his press conferences in a most public example of his possibly indicating he may be leaving before he actually steps out the door.

In one press conference, he wore a jacket from which it seemed a logo may have been removed. No idea, really, if it was in fact a Patriots logo, but who knows?

Now, all this may not be at all significant, or it could mean everything. It seems to be a change, a very public change, and it needed to be pointed out.

Is this an expression of Bill Belichick’s saying he may be leaving the Patriots? Or not?

Who knows. But Brady made the same signals (wearing a non-Patriots cap, etc. at press conferences) and he took a powder. Now, maybe it’s Belichick’s turn.

We don’t have a clue what any of this means, if anything, but it sure looks like there could be trouble in paradise and a change may be in the offing. We’ll see.