As the NFL has moved on from this year's firing-and-hiring cycle, two questions remain: Why is Bill Belichick suddenly and seemingly unemployable? And will he coach again?
Take a deeper look into the challenging off-season for former Patriots coach Bill Belichick, and what his future in the NFL might look like. of Jan. 25, a few hours before the Atlanta Falcons named Raheem Morris to be their next head coach, Bill Belichick believed the job was his.
Blank later told reporters that Morris"was the right fit for us going forward, made the most sense. I understood the man, understood the history, understood the presence, understood how he had grown." The answer goes beyond his recent run of busted draft picks and underperforming personnel decisions, particularly at quarterback, and a combined 29-39 record since he opened the door for Brady to leave New England. Owners have evolved in the 28 years since Belichick last hustled for a job. Belichick's brand of dual GM/head coach leadership has not fallen completely out of favor in the NFL. The 49ers and Chiefs, this year's Super Bowl contestants, both use strong head-coach models.
In the end, his assurances failed to persuade Blank and team executives."He was essentially voted off the island," a source close to the Falcons' hiring process said. Not since Paul Brown in the 1960s had such a revolutionary head coach been available. Owners and executives, even on teams that didn't have openings, discussed hiring Belichick. Among them were the Eagles, who were coming off a disappointing finish one year after a narrow Super Bowl loss. Owner Jeffrey Lurie and general manger Howie Roseman, both Belichick fans, still strongly believed in their current head coach, Nick Sirianni, who over a stretch went 26-5.
Dallas was another potential suitor. On paper, the Cowboys seemed to make sense: Belichick and Jerry Jones are decades-long friends, and both are in win-now mode. Nobody is better than Belichick at converting a talented roster into a championship team. And Belichick told a friend that he liked the idea of sticking it to the Krafts by working for Jones. But Jones, for all his flash, bluster and vows this offseason to go"all-in," is change-averse when it comes to head coaches.
Belichick wasn't interested in going to Los Angeles, which was fine because Chargers owner Dean Spanos had targeted Harbaugh from the start. The Chargers were looking for a long-term solution at head coach and Belichick's window felt like, at most, three to five years, sources said. Harbaugh is 60 and has a runway of at least a decade.
But in a conversation with Blank, Kraft delivered a stark assessment of Belichick's character, according to a source who spoke to two people: a close Kraft friend and a longtime Belichick confidant. The source quoted the Belichick source as saying,"Robert called Arthur to warn him not to trust Bill." That account was backed up, the source said, by the close Kraft friend.
The same source said he did not know if Kraft had warned Blank about Belichick's trustworthiness, but he said both Krafts felt"betrayed" by the coach."I don't think they'd try to hurt Belichick," he said."But I don't think they'd try to help him either. They weren't going to try to sink him. He was finished as an effective head coach. Just look at his last four years in New England. A disaster ...
"It would not surprise me to learn that owners sometimes lament to those close to them when their teams are struggling," James said,"but Robert Kraft never questioned Bill's character or trust when talking with Arthur Blank. Trust is important to Robert. He wouldn't have employed Coach Belichick for the past 24 years if he ever questioned his trust."
Kraft's assessment of Belichick occurred in the run-up to the much-anticipated 10-part docuseries,"The Dynasty," which debuted in mid-February on AppleTV+. The Kraft-supported project has been criticized by several former Patriots players and fans as intentionally and blatantly anti-Belichick. In the docuseries, Kraft blamed Belichick for the team's Super Bowl LII loss to the Eagles, citing his mysterious benching of cornerback Malcolm Butler.
Belichick wasn't eager to work with McKay, but it was unclear how much that would have mattered anyway: McKay is a longtime trusted aide to Blank but would soon be promoted out of daily team oversight, sources said. Belichick assured Blank that he was willing to work with Fontenot. The executives also were concerned about the staff Belichick would bring with him, including assistants who had worked with him in New England and who had struggled on their own: Josh McDaniels, Joe Judge, Jack Easterby, Matt Patricia. At one point, Blank asked Belichick why his charges had failed elsewhere. Belichick replied that he thought they were better soldiers than generals.
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