Bill Belichick didn't hesitate to mess with the NY Jets in the 2023 NFL Draft

The NY Jets have long been a subject of New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick's scorn. In fact, Belichick has gone to extreme lengths to get one over on his former team over the years.

Belichick's most recent attempt to mess with his division rivals came in the 2023 NFL Draft when he helped orchestrate a trade down with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The belief was that the Steelers, who ended up selecting Georgia offensive tackle Broderick Jones, would take the player the Jets wanted.

Multiple league executives reportedly believed that Belichick accepted a lesser trade offer from the Steelers simply because he believed Pittsburgh would draft the player the Jets had their eye on.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin seemingly confirmed that notion when speaking to the media on Friday. Tomlin told reporters that his organization had a feeling that the Jets were targeting Jones, which is why they traded up.

The full quote, however, shares some insight into the process behind trading up with the Patriots, specifically. Tomlin more or less says that Belichick was very receptive to the idea of screwing with the Jets.

"We knew with the acquisition of Aaron Rodgers and so forth, [the Jets] might be fishing in those waters ... I'll put it this way: There wasn't a lot of hesitation on New England's end."

Mike Tomlin

Bill Belichick continues to further his hatred of the NY Jets

What seemed like little more than hearsay certainly appears to be the truth at this point. Tomlin made it very clear that the Patriots didn't hesitate when presented with the opportunity to trade down and potentially thwart the plans of their archrivals.

That said, reports suggest that the Jets planned to draft Will McDonald, their eventual pick, over Jones if even the latter was still available. The player the Jets were originally targeting was Alabama running back Jahmyr Gibbs, but once he was taken by the Detroit Lions at pick 12, they pivoted to McDonald.

So in reality, all Belichick did was hurt his own team's trade haul. It's the thought that counts though, right?

Belichick's longstanding hatred of the Jets, of course, stems back to his controversial departure from the organization over two decades ago. Since that day, he's seemingly made it his lifelong mission to torment the franchise.

He's willing to go as far as potentially harming the Jets at the expense of his own team. Not even a guarantee of harming the Jets — just the possibility of it is enough for Belichick to undermine the Patriots' organization.

Unfortunately for Belichick, it doesn't appear as though his plan worked this time. The Jets still got their guy, even though their old nemesis did everything in his power to ensure that didn't happen.