Bill Belichick Allegedly Told a Team Doctor to Play "Four Corners" and Delay Treatment for Injured Player

Bill Belichick allegedly directed a team physician to delay treatment for Jonathan Fanene, the former Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle who signed with the Patriots in March of 2012, but never played with the team. Fanene was released before the 2012 season with a “failure to disclose physical condition” designation.

The parties had a dispute over a knee injury and whether an arthritic condition was pre-existing, with the Patriots disputing whether Fanene was entitled to his signing bonus. That dispute settled, with Fanene keeping $2.5 million of a signing bonus he had already been paid, after the NFLPA had filed a grievance on his behalf.

That would have been the end of it (and legally, all matters between Fanene and the club are resolved), but the Washington Post obtained a confidential letter that was entered into evidence in a separate case on NFL physicians. The letter from the NFLPA asked for team physician Thomas Gill to resign (he later did step down in April of this year), and alleged that he had let team interests interfere with his treatment of the player.

"In its grievance letter, the players’ union alleged that Gill initially scheduled Fanene for arthroscopic surgery to treat a knee injury. However, he subsequently “took the direction of Head Coach Bill Belichick” to “play four corner offense” (a metaphorical reference to a stalling tactic in basketball) and delay any surgery, and “ultimately Dr. Gill refused to do the surgery at all,” advising Fanene that if he wanted the surgery, he should use his personal physician."

For those that don’t know, the reference to “four corner offense” goes back to Dean Smith at North Carolina, in the era before the shot clock was adopted in college basketball, when his teams would control possession of the ball and stall once they had a lead, to prevent the other team from getting possession.

At the time, Belichick had said “It just didn’t work out, nothing to add other than that. It just didn’t work out.” Fanene had passed physicals at the time of his signing and at the start of camp. Dr. Gill had original scheduled arthroscopic surgery but never went through after allegedly being directed to not treat him by Belichick (the e-mails themselves were not included as an exhibit in the recent case, only the NFLPA letter).

Dr. Gill also allegedly sent an e-mail to the Krafts saying that he was “trying to put together a case” for the return of Fanene’s signing bonus.

DeMaurice Smith could not provide comment on the underlying settlement, but did tell the Post:

"“It makes serious allegations about the integrity and independence of a team doctor providing medical care to a player,” Smith said. “The allegations would suggest behavior that is completely inappropriate. I will look forward to seeing what the league intends to do as far as investigating this pursuant to their personal conduct policy.”"

The medical care provided to players by NFL team doctors has been under increased scrutiny recently, as former players have also filed a suit allegedly improper administration of pain killers. The DEA is also investigating the NFL, and did a surprise inspection of visiting team physicians on a recent NFL Sunday.