Bill Belichick led one of the greatest dynasties in sports history as head coach of the New England Patriots, yet teams passed up on the opportunity to hire him this offseason. That surprised Tom Brady as much as it did to most of us.
“I’m not one to hire (coaches),” Brady said on his ‘Let’s Go’ podcast, via NFL.com. “I don’t know the criteria for hiring these guys, for hiring coaches. I’ve never been a part of it. I mean, I’m surprised that the greatest coach ever doesn’t have a job, absolutely. But I’m surprised (by) a lot of things in the NFL.”
Brady spent most of his career under Belichick, with whom he formed one of, if not the best quarterback-coach duo in NFL history. Together, they were the faces of the Patriots dynasty that won six Super Bowls in two decades.
That makes Belichick the most successful coach of all time, which is why it makes so much noise to see him fail to land a head coaching job for 2024. Many would have expected Belichick to have plenty of offers on the table, but it hasn’t been the case. While Brady cannot explain how the hiring process of a coach works, he knows what is like to hit the open market in the NFL.
Tom Brady #12 and head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots shake hands at the start of the AFC Divisional Playoff Game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Gillette Stadium on January 16, 2016 in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
“When I was a free agent, there (were) a lot of teams that didn’t want me,” Brady said. “… There (are) a lot of things that happen that, for one reason or another, don’t go exactly the way you think they should go.”
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Brady’s departure from Foxborough in 2020 proved to be a turning point for everyone affected by the change. While for the quarterback it meant an opportunity to prove his doubters wrong, it turned out to be a painful loss for Belichick and the Patriots.
Brady immediately settled in at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, leading the team to Super Bowl victory in his very first season away from New England. The Patriots, on the other hand, failed to make the playoffs that year. And it only went worse.
Though the organization seemed to be getting back on its feet in 2021, when rookie quarterback Mac Jones gave reasons for optimism by leading the team to its first postseason appearance since Brady left, it didn’t take long for everything to fall apart.
Belichick fails to succeed without Brady
Jones and the Patriots’ offense took many steps back in 2022, as the franchise finished the season with a losing record to fall short from a playoff berth again. The worst was yet to come, as 2023 proved to be such a terrible year that it ended with Belichick’s time at Gillette Stadium.
Head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots looks on during the first half of a game against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium on December 31, 2023 in Orchard Park, New York.
The Patriots finished bottom of the AFC East at 4-13, the worst record in the Belichick era, and the coach paid the price for it. While Brady continued to find success in Tampa Bay by making the playoffs in all three seasons with the team, the best Belichick could do without him was a Wild Card appearance in four years.
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That lack of success without Brady, in addition to his age (71 years old) and authority he got used to having at the Patriots may have been reasons why teams passed up on Belichick this offseason. The Falcons interviewed him twice, but ended up hiring Raheem Morris.
