Patriots icon addresses Bill Belichick, Jets rumors

Rob Gronkowski is among individuals associated with the New England Patriots who are convinced that former New England head coach Bill Belichick will return to the sidelines in 2025.

During a recent appearance on "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" program, fellow Patriots icon and Super Bowl LIII Most Valuable Player Julian Edelman explained why he "could never see" Belichick coaching the New York Jets.

"We never liked the Jets," Edelman said, as shared by Lauren Campbell of MassLive. "It was always exactly what you said. Now, they did have a few teams with [former Jets head coach Rex Ryan] that we were 14-2, smoked them three weeks before, go to the division round, they smoked us. They beat us a couple times like that. That was always a hiccup. That was always a blip on the radar that was unpredictable."

Belichick was linked with the Jets earlier this fall before team owne r Woody Johnson shockingly fired Robert Saleh last week with the club at 2-3. Following Johnson's decision, multiple NFL insiders insisted that Belichick would never take the Jets job largely "because of concerns" related to Johnson and because the six-time Super Bowl champion head coach allegedly thinks Johnson is not " a really good owner."

Belichick reportedly has carried a "distaste" for the Jets "for 25 years." He famously resigned as New York's head coach in January 2000 without having ever coached a game for the team.

During an episode of his "Coach with Bill Belichick" program recorded after Saleh's firing, Belichick said that an "appearance of dysfunctionality" hovers over the Jets' "ownership, personnel, and coaching." One would think such a comment suggests Belichick won't be rushing to complete an interview in Florham Park come January 2025.

Edelman added during the show segment that the thought of Belichick coaching the Jets "just doesn’t feel right." That's all well and good, but the fact remains that multiple teams passed on potentially hiring Belichick this past winter. Thus, he may need to keep his options open as he pursues the NFL record for career victories earned by a head coach (regular season and postseason combined).

The Jacksonville Jaguars, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles are among organizations that could give Belichick a call even before Week 18 concludes. None of those clubs had an opening as of Monday morning, though, and recent history shows teams are more likely to hire a young offensive-minded coach over a defensive coach who turns 73 years old in April 2025 and has produced just a single winning season since the start of the 2020 campaign.