FOXBORO — The Patriots stood pat at the NFL’s trade deadline Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Bill Belichick took his first questions about the team’s inactivity at the deadline. Belichick deflected the first two questions, saying his focus was on preparing for Sunday’s game against Washington. On Tuesday, the Commanders (3-4) were among the most active teams at the deadline, trading defensive ends Chase Young and Montez Sweat for picks in the second and third round of next year’s draft.
Pressed about any trade talks the Patriots (2-6) might have had Tuesday, Belichick repeatedly declined to offer specifics and called it “just another day.”
Below is a complete transcript of Belichick’s comments Wednesday related to the trade deadline:
Q: The trade deadline was yesterday. Was it a busy day for you guys?
Belichick: “Yeah, we’re getting ready for Washington.”
Q: Were you close on anything?
Belichick: “Spent time getting ready for Washington.”
Q: When you say you spent time getting ready for Washington yesterday, is that just there wasn’t much sort of percolated on the trade front for you guys?
Belichick: “Yeah, again, we talked about this the other day. The personnel department, the coaching department, we talked about that last week. It’s just another day.”
Q: So there really weren’t any decisions to make on your end?
Belichick: “If there was anything to talk about, we talked about it. If there wasn’t anything to talk about, then I worked on Washington, and the personnel people worked on personnel things.”
Q: “Bill, I’m really not trying to beat a dead horse here, but I just want to clarify you mentioned the personnel department handles the trade stuff and trade discussions maybe with other teams, but you are part of the personnel department here, why –“
Belichick: “Phil (Perry), I just said the same thing. We talked about this 50 times. If they have something that they think I need to know about, then we talk about it. If I have a personnel situation that I think they need to know about, I tell them about it, and then they look into it. It’s the same thing I’ve said the last 50 times we’ve talked about this. We work together when there’s something to work together on. If there’s not something to work together on, I coach, they do personnel.”
Q: “I was just trying to clarify just because you make it sound like two different things. Our understanding is you’re part of –“
Belichick: “Yes, if there’s something that we need to talk about, then we talk about it. And if there isn’t something to talk about, we don’t just sit there and stare at each other all day. We both have other stuff to do. Their department, the coaching apartment, there’s other things going on. So we don’t just sit there and stare at each other and see if the phone’s going to ring or there’s going to be something on the news or whatever. We have stuff to do.”
