Who's Ernie Adams?

"I'll give anyone here $10,000 if they can tell me what Ernie Adams does?"
                                        -then Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell

One of the most interesting, certainly least known, individuals in the NFL is Ernie Adams of the New England Patriots. His job title is Football Research Director. He's a bit of a football history-savant. That would explain his uncanny ability to connect a current offensive formation to one from the '50s. That can come in handy but he does much more for Bill Belichick and the Patriots.

Adams' relationship with Belichick goes back to their year together at Phillips Andover. Adams loved football. What he lacked in football ability he more than made up for with football knowledge. He devoured "Football Scouting Methods" by Steve Belichick. The textbook for all football scouts that just happened to be written by Bill's father. When recent Annapolis High School graduate Bill Belichick landed at Phillips Andover for a year of post graduate study, Adams noticed the name. With a similar love of football they quickly became friends.

Each went their separate ways for college and life. The separation wouldn't last. It rarely did. Upon graduation from Northwestern in 1975, Adams started pestering New England Patriots coach Chuck Faribanks for an unpaid position. The Patriots, perhaps to quiet the kid, gave Adams the previous year's playbook. In two days, Adams knew and understood it. They gave him the defensive playbook. Same thing. Adams was hired as an administrative and offensive assistant. Fairbanks said that Adams' scouting reports were some of the most thorough that he'd ever seen. When the New York Giants hired Patriots assistant Ray Perkins as head coach, he immediately hired Adams as an assistant working with quarterbacks and receivers. As much as Adams has gone with Belichick to coaching spots this is where Adams brought Belichick along. The future Super Bowl winning head coach had spent his years since college walking the nomadic early days of a football-lifer. Adams convinced Perkins to hire Belichick as a special teams coach. Adams spent three years coaching before moving into the scouting department as pro personnel director. After ten years of NFL work, Adams decided to move to more lucrative Wall Street in 1985. Again the separation from Belichick didn't last long. When the Cleveland Browns hired Bill Belichick as head coach in 1991, his long time football pal was with him coaching tight ends and runningbacks. The Cleveland years with Belichick were a remarkable time. It was a "football think tank." The processes and system that would create a dynasty in New England a decade later were being formed in Cleveland. They had an incredible collection of coaches and scouts. From Nick Saban to Thomas Dimitroff. They just didn't get enough time. Maybe they just weren't ready. Either way, Art Modell ended it when he fired Belichick and and moved the team to Baltimore. Ernie Adams went back to Wall Street.

The separation again didn't last as Belichick brought Adams to their then and still home in 2000. New England. Adams explained his role with the Patriots as "thinking of things that help us win." Tom Brady says that Adams "knows more about football than anyone I've ever met." He's thought of as some kind of secret weapon. His ability to analyze video, statistics and scouting reports and apply his findings to game situations is considered all but unrivaled. On game days, he's in the press box helping with replay challenges. It may be the only time that he's out in public. His profile is so low that Modell never knew what he did despite paying his salary. Some players don't even know who he is. Ernie Adams just lives and loves football. He never wants or takes any of the credit but he's a big reason that the New England Patriots have been great for so long. Every team needs and Ernie Adams but there is only one.