Before Damien Harris Called Out Bill Belichick, Kendrick Bourne Blamed Ex-HC for Hindering Demario Douglas’ Development

The competitive spirit left the New England Patriots after the departure of Tom Brady. Bill Belichick reportedly got more stern after the loss and Pats’ quarterbacks, receivers and even running backs had to bear the brunt of Belichick’s shenanigans. The 8 x Super Bowl-winning coach failed at team mismanagement, portrayed unwarranted harshness on the players, but most importantly failed to nurture quarterbacks. It all became clear when Damien Harris and Kendrick Bourne told their side of the story.

Both Harris and Bourne pointed out a few things about Belichick that hindered the development of young players. The most common point of contention was, Belichick, benching his players for making the minutest of mistakes, something that happened to DeMario Douglas, and also changing the coaching landscape drastically, which affected Mac Jones.

Damien Harris talks about Bill Belichick

Mac Jones had a near-perfect start to his Patriots tenure a year after Tom Brady left the Pats. In his rookie season, Jones recorded 3,801 yards and 22 touchdowns. But things would worsen the next year when Josh McDaniels would move on to the Las Vegas Raiders as their head coach. Mac Jones mentioned earlier that he cherished the bond that he had with McDaniels and that he’s helped him [Jones] a lot in his career.

Belichick, as the GM and HC made a huge mistake when he appointed Matt Patricia (a defensive coach primarily) and Joe Judge to coach Mac Jones. Neither had the experience, nor the knowledge required to train Mac Jones, and that’s when his career started derailing. In the 2022 season, Jones had 2,997 yards and 14 touchdowns and in the last season, the QB got even worse as he had 2,120 yards and 10 touchdowns in the whole season.

The retired running back, Damien Harris went to The Athletic Football Show and had this to say, “What happened to Mac Jones in New England, was not because of Mac Jones… (it) was because of the fact you took away an offensive coordinator who coached him to be a Pro-Bowler and almost coached us to winning our division.”

The RB further said, “With a rookie quarterback… then you take Matt Patricia who’s coached defense his entire life. Joe Judge who’s been a special teams coach… and then you just throw them in there and say, ‘Hey, coach this kid up. He’s a first-round pick, but as long as you teach him what I say, everything going to be fine.’”

But this is not the first time Belichick’s authoritarian approach and retrogressive ways backfired on him or any other rookie. Something even crude happened to the rookie WR DeMario Douglas. Kendrick Bourne laid out what happened to his fellow WR.

Kendrick Bourne on Belichick’s antics

It was week two and the Pats were playing the Miami Dolphins. Mac Jones threw the ball to Douglas; he ran and fumbled the ball, and it was later recovered by Miami. This one mistake became the WRs undoing for the whole season. Douglas played his sixth and last snap in the Patriots offense that day and was used as a punt returner thereafter. Douglas recorded 19 yards and 2 receptions in that game and never had more than 6 receptions in a game for the whole season. Douglas had 561 yards and 0 touchdowns in the 2023 season.

Perhaps, this treatment was too harsh on the rookie, and it got to Kendrick Bourne, who thinks that the third-most winningest coach in the league could have handled it better. “It’s just inevitable,” Bourne said. “He’s trying to be an explosive player like he is, be himself. But then when you don’t put us back in the game … that kills the confidence.”

“I think that’s going to be the difference. It’s like, ‘No, bro, you just made a mistake, that can happen to anyone.’ That mindset is just going to help a player take off,” said Bourne as he offered his take on the situation. But it looks like the Patriots are finally seeing the dawn of the day with Jerod Mayo as HC and Elliot Wolf as the new de-facto GM. More so, Kendrick Bourne likes Wolf’s approach to handling his players.

“He’s just, treating everybody fairly, giving everybody an opportunity, bringing guys in not just – you drop a pass, you don’t get an opportunity next week,” Bourne said of Wolf. Sadly, Mac Jones is not with the Patriots anymore and has moved on to the Jacksonville Jaguars to play behind Trevor Lawrence. Perhaps this is where Mac Jones might get a chance to shine. As for DeMario Douglas, the new leadership might just end up benefitting him as Jerod Mayo brings a different flavor of experience for his first head coaching gig.