Sorry for the delay in this, but I didn't have a Bill Belichick media blitz eight days out from the NFL draft on my bingo card during school vacation week:
News items:
- The Pat McAfee Show announced that Belichick will provide commentary before and during the first round of the draft:
"Belichick will be part of the team on 'The Pat McAfee Show Draft Spectacular,' airing the opening night of the draft on YouTube and ESPN+," McAfee announced Wednesday.
The draft will be held April 25-27 in Detroit.
"I'm looking forward to it," a relaxed-looking Belichick told McAfee. "Draft weekend's always an exciting time for everybody -- for the teams that are building their teams and for the fans and for everybody involved in it, so you know it's a great event and, yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing it, you know, from the other side. It will be fun to be in Detroit."
Belichick is also expected to sign a deal to do analysis for Peyton Manning's Omaha Productions, which produces ESPN's "ManningCast" during "Monday Night Football."
- ESPN reporters Don Van Natta Jr., Seth Wickersham, and Jeremy Fowler released a pretty big story on the inside story on how Belichick failed to land this offseason.
The key takeaways, before we give our two cents:
- On 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 ... Belichick was blindsided by news that Atlanta had hired Morris. ... Blank and his top lieutenants had voted on the team's next head coach, ranking each candidate. Bill Belichick didn't even finish in anyone's top three.
- Belichick's leadership style led, in part, to the decision by seven team owners to pass on him this offseason, and the bad blood between Robert Kraft and Belichick was no secret around the league, according to more than a dozen sources close to the coach and owners who spoke with ESPN on the condition they remain anonymous. Both Kraft and Belichick declined to comment for this story. Belichick's longtime agent, Neil Cornrich, also declined to comment.
- Belichick is believed to be biding his time until next January for openings on teams he has told confidants he would be interested in coaching: the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, and New York Giants. A source who spoke with a longtime friend of Belichick said the friend wonders if the coach will have another opportunity: "I don't think Bill Belichick will ever be a head coach again in the National Football League," the friend said. "Unless it's [for] Jerry Jones."
- A source close to Robert Kraft said he considered moving on from Belichick after the 2022 season, but Jonathan Kraft talked him out of it.
- 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 manager Howie Roseman, both Belichick fans, still strongly believed in their current head coach, Nick Sirianni, who over a stretch went 26-5. But Lurie thought it was worth asking a confidant of his about Belichick. A source close to Belichick said the coach would have been interested.
- 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. He decided quickly after Dallas' blowout exit in the wild-card round to let Mike McCarthy coach the final year of his contract.
- Washington seemed to be another good fit, and multiple sources said Belichick was very interested. He grew up in Annapolis, Maryland, and the combination of his hometown ties and football acumen might have helped the Commanders win and land a stadium in Washington, D.C., considered the most-prized location for a new venue. Commanders minority owner Magic Johnson lobbied hard for Belichick to be the team's new head coach, sources said. Belichick spoke to new Commanders GM Adam Peters, a former Patriots staffer, and said he respected the job Peters had done in personnel since he had left New England, helping the Broncos and 49ers reach a combined three Super Bowls. However, principal owner Josh Harris, who had spoken privately with Kraft about Belichick, told confidants in early December that he respected Belichick but wasn't going to hire him. He wanted the same leadership structure he has with the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils: a strong general manager over a head coach. Harris' hiring of the 44-year-old Peters as GM before he looked for a coach was a big tell that Belichick was not a fit, a decision that Johnson endorsed. A source close to Belichick said the coach had questions about working in a strong-GM system.
- The Carolina Panthers briefly discussed Belichick, before he signed his two-year extension with New England a year ago. But this offseason, Carolina decided to pass, a source said. Panthers owner David Tepper often sifts through data to critique his coach's playcalling. That, according to a source, "is tough to do with Belichick as the figurehead."
- In a comment echoed by others, a source with a team that had a head-coaching vacancy this year said Belichick's "ability to build a culture at this stage is an issue. ... He was so stubborn with the offense. He ran that offense down to a pulp. Mac Jones looked like a capable quarterback early. You think [Joe] Judge and Matt Patricia can run the offense for him? It's arrogance."
- Blank spoke by phone, at least twice, to Robert Kraft. Among the NFL owners, Blank considers Kraft his closest friend. Publicly, Kraft and Blank have said Kraft expressed only support and offered praise of his former coach. 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.
- Multiple sources said that Kraft spoke with "some candor" to Blank about Belichick, though the sources declined to elaborate. One source close to Belichick said Kraft "was a big part" of why the Falcons passed on hiring him.
- The sources said Kraft made clear to Blank that "you'll never have a warm conversation with" Belichick, echoing what Bill Parcells told Kraft in 1996 when he wanted to bust the budget and hire Belichick. "Blank likes coaches who feel part of a family," a Falcons source said, "and it wasn't going to be that way with Bill."
- The comments were consistent with what Kraft had been telling confidants for months: After an unprecedented run, after Spygate and Aaron Hernandez, after backing his coach in moving on from Tom Brady, after disagreements public (cash the Krafts were willing to spend) and private (leaking against each other directly or through associates), the owner had lost trust in Belichick, which was a key reason for their deteriorating working relationship and the end of the Patriot Way. A second source close to Kraft said, "[Kraft] found Bill to be extremely difficult and obstinate and kind of stubborn and, in the end, not worthy of his trust. And also very, very, very arrogant."
- 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 ... If you're Arthur Blank, why do you want the headaches?"
- A spokesman for Kraft strongly denied that Kraft said anything disparaging about Belichick during the owners' two phone conversations in January. "Robert steadfastly denies saying anything negative to Arthur Blank about Bill Belichick after Robert and Bill mutually agreed to part ways," Patriots spokesman Stacey James said. "In fact, Robert advocated for Bill to get the job."
- Asked whether Kraft had any motivation to keep Belichick off the sideline, a source close to the coach said: "If Bill goes on to have success and Tom already had success, then who does [Kraft] have to blame?"
- The Falcons 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.
- Blank and the Falcons execs compared notes. Morris was the unanimous first choice. The team then discussed alternatives if it couldn't hire Morris. In that straw poll, Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, eventually hired by the Seahawks, was the second choice. Slowik finished third.
- Belichick has told confidants that he hopes if a team in the Northeast has an opening, it will consider him. That way, key former assistants who live in the region, such as Patricia and McDaniels, will be able to join him with minimal family disruption. But in the end, if he works, or where, or how much power he is granted, won't be up to Belichick. "The Patriot Way is damaged," a former Patriots assistant coach said.
- Belichick also, like many in the New England circle, quietly observed the attacks on the Patriot Way in recent months, through Belichick's job hunt and fallout from the docuseries. "A lot of people are pissed," a Belichick confidant said. "His name was smeared."
- This year, Belichick plans to travel abroad, speak to football programs around the country and to write a book -- not a tell-all memoir but a football leadership guide. The model is one of the books that influenced Belichick most: "Finding the Winning Edge," Bill Walsh's 550-page bid to put his football genius on paper.
BSJ ANALYSIS
- On McAfee, Belichick appeared on the show today as part of the announcement and he yabbered on for 32 minutes where, I'm sorry, there wasn't much that was hugely enlightening. Of course, McAfee being a very source-friendly outfit, there were zero questions about the ESPN story — in fact, without Belichick on, they trashed it (shocker) — or about the Patriots, or the quarterbacks in the draft (they teased that will be part of the pre-draft coverage) or anything else remotely interesting.
- On the ESPN story ... well, for one, it confirms a lot of our reporting in the past few years, including that Belichick thought he had the Falcons job wrapped up and was shocked he didn't get it, that the Eagles considered him this offseason and could be the favorite if he lands somewhere next year, and that he'd like to work for Jerry Jones (he flirted with Dallas when the relationship between Belichick and Tom Brady was at it's worst and Belichick wasn't sure if Kraft was going to back the head coach or QB).
- Of course, the biggest bombshell is about Kraft. The Patriots strongly deny the allegations. I'll say this, those are darn good reporters and they're not running with that on one source - their sourcing seems incredibly strong. And their history is really good on these types of stories.
The bottom line is, the Krafts have to move on and they must start to distance themselves from anything Belichick so everyone else can move on. But the horse is out of the barn, between this and The Dynasty. As I talked about out of the owners' meetings, I don't know if the Krafts are listening to anyone, but they need to start. At this point, they are doing all the wrong things.
They shouldn't have given Jerod Mayo that contract language, which basically knee-capped Belichick's authority and set the stage for a completely dysfunctional season that cost Belichick his job. They shouldn't have rushed The Dynasty, an obvious attempt to help Robert's HOF chances. Playing dumb about the NFLPA grades. Not giving Eliot Wolf a real title and contract. They shouldn't be bad-mouthing Belichick, if they are doing that.
Basically, for the last year, the Krafts haven't done much right, and that includes the decision to build the lighthouse.
They better hope that Jerod Mayo and Wolf are ready for this hugely important moment in franchise history. Because most of the fanbase is growing angrier by the day - and they're not wrong.
How about they ignore the noise and do their job - fielding a championship-level football team.