mikiemo83
The Future
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2005
- Messages
- 76,178
- Reaction score
- 8,181
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Gillette Stadium Basement
Per Rapaport and others
Belichick and Patriots owner Robert Kraft spent a good part of this week periodically meeting and discussing how each side wanted to proceed. From sources familiar with those conversations, there was said to be no conflict, no disagreement, and in the end, productive talks resulted in a mutual decision that left both sides comfortable and at ease.
Both Belichick and Kraft, as one outside party noted, "took the high road," which was appropriate for an owner-coach tandem that will go down as one of the greatest and most decorated in NFL history.
Belichick, who had one year remaining on his contract, will be allowed to leave the team without the Patriots seeking compensation. He will want to continue coaching and is expected to draw interest from at least some of the other seven NFL teams that have head-coaching vacancies, quite possibly the Atlanta Falcons, league sources said.
The Patriots now will embark on their first head-coaching search in a quarter-century. Patriots linebackers coach Jerod Mayo, whom the team signed to a contract extension in the offseason and Kraft has identified as a rising head-coaching candidate, projects to be a, if not the, leading candidate for the job, sources said. Mayo played for the Patriots from 2008 to 2014 and has been an assistant under Belichick since 2019.
Belichick's exit from New England is expected to come less than 24 hours after his close friend Nick Saban retired from Alabama.
There is a symmetry and a similarity in the goodbye of two football legends -- men that are widely considered the greatest coach in professional history and the greatest coach in college football history. Belichick helped lead the Patriots to nine Super Bowl appearances and six Super Bowl titles; Saban led Alabama to nine SEC titles and six national championships.
Additionally, Saban succeeded Pete Carroll as the Ohio State secondary coach in 1980; Belichick worked with Saban in Cleveland from 1991 to 1994; and Belichick replaced Carroll as the Patriots head coach in 2000 before all three vacated their long-standing jobs this week in a 24-hour period.
It will be zero odds since Belichick has a losing record without BradyI don't want to see him coach anywhere either. Bill thank you for all you did for us fans. What are the odds he goes to another team and brings them to a SB? Ugh