Bill Belichick tried to screw over the NY Jets in the 2023 NFL Draft

Bill Belichick hates the NY Jets. We know this. You could even make the case that he hates the Jets more than he likes his own team. In fact, his actions on draft day might just suggest that.

According to Jason La Canfora of The Washington Post, multiple league executives and general managers believed that Belichick intentionally traded down with the Pittsburgh Steelers in this year's draft to prevent the Jets from selecting the player they wanted.

In fact, the report claims that the New England Patriots accepted a deal of lesser value to move down solely because Belichick believed the Steelers would select the player the Jets were eyeing with the very next pick.

The Steelers traded the Patriots a fourth-round pick to move from 17 to 14 in the first round of this year's draft. They used that selection to take Georgia offensive tackle Broderick Jones, a player many believed the Jets were targeting.

The report states that the Patriots had an offer from another team that would have netted them a third-round pick but that Belichick wanted to "f--k the Jets," so he took a lesser offer.

Below is a direct quote from one anonymous NFL general manager.

"Belichick did it just to f--- the Jets. He sold low because he knew the Steelers were going to take the kid the Jets wanted to take. Bill will try to screw them over any chance he gets. He knew exactly what he was doing."

- Anonymous NFL GM, via Jason La Canfora

Did Bill Belichick prevent the NY Jets from drafting the player they wanted?

If this report is true, and the Jets did want to draft Jones at pick 15, you could argue they have no one to blame but themselves. As part of the Aaron Rodgers trade, the Jets swapped first-round picks with the Packers, resulting in them falling two spots.

"It appeared to some rival executives and general managers that Pittsburgh was granted easy access to OL Broderick Jones, specifically to keep him away from the Jets, for whom Belichick has no love and whose draft he would eagerly attempt to derail."

- Jason La Canfora

The Jets would have been able to select Jones at pick 13 had they not swapped picks with the Packers. However, numerous reports have suggested that the Jets would have taken Will McDonald, their eventual first-round pick, over Jones regardless.

In that case, Belichick didn't really screw anyone but his own team. If the Jets planned to select McDonald anyway, as reported by NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah, Belichick didn't exactly thwart the Jets' plans.

As the old saying, it's the thought that counts. If we're to believe these anonymous NFL executives, Belichick would rather screw over the Jets than maximize trade value for his own team.

That sounds like the Bill Belichick we all know. Forever a grudge, even at the expense of his own team.