While multiple reports came out suggesting the Commanders were not interested in Bill Belichick, the longtime Patriots HC may have spoken to two teams about HC positions this year.
The Commanders are believed to have spoken with Belichick about the job, according to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini. Some internal support existed for a hire, though not too much appears to have developed on that front. Five teams went with defense-oriented candidates this year, making it even more interesting the greatest defensive coach in NFL history does not have a job.
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Belichick met with the Falcons twice about their job and was viewed as the early favorite. But that prospective partnership fizzled, leading to Raheem Morris landing the Atlanta job. Both the positions to which Belichick was connected went to candidates who served as Falcons HCs in 2020; Morris succeeded Dan Quinn in the interim that year. Quinn became the team’s Ron Rivera successor Thursday morning.
Although a brief Belichick-Commanders connection formed as the regular season ended, Russini’s report runs counter to what came out when the Patriots and Belichick parted ways. The Commanders were not believed to be interested in the Maryland native for their job, and a Wednesday follow-up indicated the team expressed issues with Belichick’s age and how he would fit on a rebuilding team. Belichick’s willingness to work alongside new football ops president Adam Peters is also believed to have come up during the Washington search.
It is possible the above-referenced concerns developed after the Commanders discussed the job with Belichick, though no official interview was ever reported. The Falcons reported both their meetings with the six-time Super Bowl-winning HC. Ben Johnson appeared positioned as the favorite for the Washington job, but the Detroit OC — just before his second interview with the Commanders — informed both the Commanders and Seahawks he was staying with the Lions. It is unclear if Quinn served as a consolation prize, but given the smoke surrounding Johnson, assuming that is the case would not be a stretch.
Belichick joins Mike Vrabel and Pete Carroll as longtime HCs out of the mix for the 2024 season. The 24-year New England leader has not been connected to retirement, sitting 14 wins shy of Don Shula‘s all-time record. Belichick and Vrabel’s statuses stand to make the 2025 coaching carousel fascinating, as that could conceivably represent the former’s last chance to land another NFL HC job. At 48, Vrabel obviously has more time. Belichick, 72 in April, has been an NFL staffer in every season since 1975. He has not worked as an assistant since being the Jets’ defensive coordinator in 1999.
The greatest defensive coach in history? I’d give you a top 10, but anointing BB the king is a big stretch. Without Tom Brady, he likely would have joined the CFL a decade ago.
In fairness to the statement, Brady doesn’t have much to do with the defensive accomplishments. While one certainly could argue that Brady’s play elevated the opinion of Belichick in general as a coach, the defensive strategy and scheming of Belichick is independently notable. Even before Brady, one thing that was always known about Belichick was his defensive prowess. Even these last few awful years in New England, Belichick did run an impressive defense, ones that also lacked stars. Pretty much all of his failures had to do with team management, much moreso than his coaching skills.
Honestly, the thing that gives me more pause in anointing Belichick is the cheating, much more than the coaching product.
This comment makes little sense. It one thing to state he wouldn’t have set an SB record without record w/o Brady, that is likely true. However, his teams routinely had a top 10 defense, typically top 5, and they were rarely defined by their offense. Bellichick built those defenses by skimping on offensive talent and focusing on defense. With Brady and Gronk those offenses were still top 15. After they left, the lack of talent was exposed, culminating in a bottom 5 offense, but still top 10 defense, this year. He proved over the years that you don’t need an elite offense to win (never hurts). The last 2 years he also proved you can’t just win with defense.
Anointing him the best defensive coach, especially of his era, makes sense. Feel free to nominate someone obviously better for an extended period of time. Best head coach of all time is a different story.
Without Brady, he wouldn’t have lasted five years in New England. Hard to be considered the best if not winning Super Bowls and many other coaches have delivered more consistent defenses than BB.
In the 2000s? That’s speculative. What is known, definitively, is that Belichick did and it is absolutely unquestionable that those Patriot defenses were heavy contributors to their success. The Patriots never won a Superbowl without a top ten overall defense. Giving Brady all of the credit and Belichick none just doesn’t account for how good the defenses consistently were, which also doesn’t account for the two rings that Belichick won in New York…while overseeing the defense. If your argument is that he is, or is one of, the greatest defensive coaches of all time, that certainly is relevant.
There exists a basic theory in pro football ‘defense wins super bowls’. This adage has held true since the early days. Offense provides the excitement but a good defense makes an offense stall and can win games.
The ‘fly in the ointment’ is todays officiating which hinders and restrict defenses measurably!
Agreed. The NFL has made discernible impact on the ability of defense to affect results at a season level. In the last five years especially, we’ve seen that time honored adage diminish into an oft repeated but inaccurate relic of a prior era.
The offenses are besting the defenses much more consistently than they did years ago.