Tom Brady ‘surprised’ Bill Belichick didn’t land a head coaching job
Count Tom Brady among those puzzled by Bill Belichick’s unemployment.
Belichick, who won six Super Bowls with Brady and the Patriots, failed to land a head-coaching job this offseason after his 24-year tenure with New England came to an end last month.
“I don’t know the criteria for hiring coaches. I’ve never been a part of it,” Brady said on his “Let’s Go!” podcast. “I mean, I’m surprised that the greatest coach ever doesn’t have a job, absolutely. But I’m surprised [by] a lot of things in the NFL.”
The 71-year-old Belichick interviewed twice with the Atlanta Falcons before they hired Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris to be their new head coach.
Belichick also had “had support from some decision makers” with the Washington Commanders about their vacancy, according to The Athletic. The Commanders opted instead to hire Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who was head coach of the Falcons in 2017 when Atlanta blew a 28-3 lead to Belichick’s Patriots in the biggest collapse in Super Bowl history.
Hiring Belichick comes with complications, considering he would be the oldest head coach in the NFL and also operated as the Patriots’ general manager. Belichick’s drafting and development of offensive players repeatedly earned criticism, with quarterback Mac Jones, running back Sony Michel and wide receiver N’Keal Harry among his underwhelming first-round selections.
Brady left the Patriots for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2019, and Belichick went 29-38 over the four subsequent seasons. That included a career-worst 4-13 record in 2023, during which the Patriots’ brutal offense tied for the league-worst scoring average at 13.9 points per game. He and the Patriots described their breakup this offseason as mutual, and New England promoted Jerod Mayo to head coach.
Speculation swirled about the state of Brady’s relationship with Belichick when the quarterback left the Patriots, though Brady has publicly praised his former coach multiple times in the years since.
“When I was a free agent, there was a lot of teams that didn’t want me,” Brady said. “There’s a lot of things that happen that, for one reason or another, don’t go exactly the way you think they should go.”
Belichick won 17 AFC East titles in his 24 seasons with New England. His 333 career wins between the regular season and playoffs are 14 behind Don Shula’s NFL record of 347.
