NFL News NFL News, Reports and Updates
Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots mutually parting ways in January was not a huge shock. Belichick may be the greatest football coach ever, but his departure came after months of reports indicating he and the team he led to six Super Bowls would split after a bumpy few seasons.
What was shocking is that Belichick saw very limited interest from the seven other NFL teams with head coaching vacancies and only seriously interviewed with the Atlanta Falcons, who eventually passed him up to bring back their former interim head coach, Raheem Morris.
Even the Washington Commanders, after reportedly missing out on their top two targets in Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson (who stayed in Detroit) and Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald (who took the Seattle Seahawks head coach job), only showed limited interest in Belichick. This despite essentially having a clean slate and being situated near the 72-year-old’s hometown of Annapolis, Maryland. The Commanders eventually hired Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator and former Falcons head coach Dan Quinn on Feb. 1.
A report from The Athletic, however, shed light on the perspectives of the teams that passed on Belichick, pointing out how the coach refused to give up complete control over personnel while in New England and questioning whether he would consider doing so with a new team.
Belichick enjoyed a large amount of power as both head coach and general manager from the moment Patriots owner Robert Kraft hired him in 2000, and his unwillingness to relinquish some of that control even as New England endured losing records in three of the past four seasons concerned potential future employers, according to the report.
That power structure is an increasingly rare model in the NFL and would likely have required some adjustments from any team hiring Belichick. That reportedly made hiring the second-winningest coach in NFL history a bit harder to stomach.
Per the report: “Sources with multiple…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/report-explains-why-bill-belichick-didnt-land-job
Author :
Publish date : 2024-02-07 01:21:33
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
