Over the past several months, the phrase “end of an era” has been repeated rather frequently in the world of football. Pete Carroll was placed into an advisory role in Seattle, Nick Saban retired in Alabama, and Bill Belichick was “ushered” out of New England. All of these events took place in the same manner. All of the championship coaches, many of them, believe that the game has already gone. In the beginning, it was anticipated that Belichick would be returning to the sidelines in the National Football League for the upcoming season. In spite of this, the fact that Belichick was not selected in this cycle indicates that “The Hoodie” has most certainly reached the end of his career in the National Football League.
Aside from the fact that Belichick is almost 72 years old (he will turn 72 in April), taking this year off would mean that he would be 73 years old before he would return to the sidelines in the fall of 2025. Many people believe that the league moved on from him years ago, and that The Hoodie has been unable to adapt. Fans of the Patriots love everything and every moment they’ve spent with Belichick over the previous 24 years (he thanked them with an advertisement that took up a whole page in the Boston Globe), but the majority of them believe that once Tom Brady went on, it was the end of the road.
The previous few years, it felt like that aura that surrounded Belichick and “The Patriot Way” for almost two decades had all but evaporated in New England. The apparent lack of attention he received during this coaching cycle suggests that the league has officially moved on.
Of course all it takes is one club, but with Belichick seeking complete control as he’d had in New England, a return for Belichick in ’25 seems farfetched. If he’s prepared to sit back a bit and just coach, additional organizations will certainly be interested. Anything short of that? The Hoodie era is done. We can call it a wrap now.
There truly are just a limited few clubs out there that could even explore bringing Belichick in a year from now. He interviewed with the Atlanta Falcons in January, and it appeared like they were going to join forces, but suddenly it didn’t work out. After the previous several years of seeing the Patriots empire fall under Belichick, there might not be one club eager to relinquish him the keys and all the authority over the castle.
Power and control
Falcons owner Arthur Blank thought better of it and even moved in a completely different direction, signing former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris. In doing so, Blank chose a considerably younger and not quite as successful coach over Belichick. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who has a club in Big D that has to get past the divisional round obstacle, elected to continue with Mr. 12-wins-but-little-playoff-success, Mike McCarthy.
While McCarthy is a Super Bowl winner and has guided the Cowboys to 12 victories in three consecutive seasons, their overall success in the postseason has been awful. After that 48-32 hammering they got at the hands of Green Bay in the wild card game, everyone felt McCarthy was on his way out. But alas, Jones elected to stick pat, even with names like Belichick and Jim Harbaugh on the free market.
With all the NFL head coaching jobs now filled, that puts Belichick on the outside looking in, which sounded unthinkable not long ago. In that situation, it felt like the league stated, “We’re done. Thank you for your service, but it’s time to go on.” A lot of fans feel that he’ll come back, but unless it’s with a competitive club that’s ready to win within 2-3 years, it’s improbable.
Maybe if Nick Sirianni can’t turn things back around in Philadelphia, we may see the coach ousted and Belichick hired. McCarthy is still in Dallas but working without an extension in place, so that’s still a possibility down the line. If Mike Tomlin decides to step down after next season, it’s likely that the Steelers will at least reach out to The Hoodie. They aren’t necessarily on the edge of a Super Bowl, but they’ve got some components in place, notably on defence
It’s challenging right now to identify many locations where Belichick can legitimately step in after taking a year off at age 72. It won’t be cheap to hire Belichick, and he’s earned the right to demand whatever he wants from any team. That doesn’t mean they have to accept his demands, which is certainly the case, as we’ve seen Atlanta say no after many meetings. It also doesn’t appear like Belichick is eager to give up the authority and degree of influence he enjoyed for so long with the Patriots. Which implies the final chapter of the G.O.A.T.’s career has been written.
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