Could Bill Belichick be a one-and-done on TV after the 2024 NFL season? NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero believes so, as he told Rich Eisen on Tuesday the future Hall of Famer “intends to coach in 2025.”
“I know this - Bill Belichick intends to coach in 2025,” said Pelissero. “He’s staying engaged in the game. He’s showing up to roasts. He’s now going to be on Inside the NFL. We’ve seen him showing up to different events, and high school, you know, at the Manning Passing Academy. We saw him at the University of Washington where his son Steve is now the defensive coordinator.
“He’ll be trying to better himself. He’ll be trying to remind you that he’s not Darth Vader, that there’s more to Bill Belichick. He’s done a good job of that so far through his media stuff. He’s fully invested in, he wants to coach again. He wants to pursue the all-time wins record. Those are things that really matter a lot to Bill Belichick.”
WEEI’s Chris Curtis agrees with this PR strategy for Belichick.
“The only reason, if I were Bill, that I would be doing TV, is to keep myself top-of-mind for all organizations,” said Curtis on The Greg Hill Show on Wednesday morning. “Because if you don’t want to coach, he’s literally making $30-plus million to sit on his ass.
“The doing of these things, I think, is twofold. One, it’s to rehab an image that was viewed as this sort of grumpy old curmudgeon that didn’t want to work with anyone. This is a guy that’s working with Pat McAfee, the biggest firebrand at ESPN. And he’s on this show that’s hosted by players. Which, to me, also goes to the fact that he’s coming back because what’s the knock that we heard about Bill? ‘Can’t relate to today’s player,’ right? If he’s on a show with Ryan Clark, Chris Long and [Chad] Ochocinco, he kind of looks cooler. Like, it looks like he’s relatable in a way.
“I would be shocked if he doesn’t come back. And I was surprised there were so many Patriots fans that didn’t want him to return to coaching.”
After Belichick and the Patriots agreed to a mutual parting of ways earlier this year, there was reportedly intense interest from the Atlanta Falcons to hire the six-time Super Bowl winning head coach, leading to multiple rounds of interviews . Ultimately, the Falcons went in a different direction, opting for 47-year-old Raheem Morris .
Morris is a one-time interim head coach of the Falcons (2020), as well as a former head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2009-2011). His most recent career stop was as defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams under head coach Sean McVay (2021-2023). His career record as head coach is 21-38.
The 72-year-old Belichick has a 302-165 career regular season record as a head coach. Those 302 wins are good for third-most in NFL history behind George Halas (318) and Don Shula (328).
So if winning won’t do the trick, let’s give relatability a try!
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