Patriots and Bill Belichick part ways, ending all-time NFL tenure
On Thursday morning, news broke that the New England Patriots and head coach Bill Belichick would be parting ways. This is the latest of a few other major NFL moves made recently. I think if you were close to the Patriots in some capacity, this move should not be seen as much of a surprise. Frankly, the Patriots were a disaster of a team in three of the four seasons of the post-Tom Brady era.
Our story on https://t.co/iLSuC0HswN on Bill Belichick and the #Patriots agreeing to part ways.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 11, 2024
Jerod Mayo is the top in-house candidate, viewed for years as a possible successor. Mike Vrabel is also available. For Belichick, #Falcons may be an option. https://t.co/FyO2SZkJHE
They made the playoffs once since Brady left the team after the 2019 NFL Season, and the Pats bottomed out this year, featuring the worst offense in the NFL and managing to rack up just four wins. Belichick was the head coach and de-facto General Manager for years, and there is a valid argument that Tom Brady was more of a reason for the team's success than Belichick was.
Belichick's roster moves, especially recently, were nothing short of a disaster, and his inability to adapt to the modern-day NFL offense is likely a huge reason why he will not return. The Patriots have a severe lack of talent on offense, and most importantly, do not have a franchise QB. With them currently slated to pick third overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, they do have a good chance to land a top QB prospect, perhaps LSU's Jayden Daniels.
The Patriots will now embark on a search for a new head coach, and probably will hire a separate person for the GM job as well. Belichick still apparently wants to coach and sure wants to break the all-time wins record, so he will surely have his shot to be a HC in the NFL again. I think a desperate enough team would come calling and would want to hire Belichick.
The one thing a new team should not do with Belichick is give him roster authority, as that is not what he is good at, to be blunt. Pairing up Belichick with a separate GM and perhaps on a team with a more established offense makes sense. I have already seen people mention the Atlanta Falcons with Belichick, which is something. The Falcons did just fire Arthur Smith and have a very strong roster, but no QB.
The Washington Commanders could also make some sense as well. For Bill Belchick, it's the end of an era in New England, one that led to countless division titles and six Super Bowl trophies.