The Future Of Billy B
So what’s Bill gonna do now?
Is he going to be an analyst on a TV network? I can’t see that going well because Bill Belichick sounds like gravel slowly rolling downhill even when he’s excited about whatever subject he’s discussing. He only has two tones: Yelling angrily, and sleepily mumbling like a man reading off data spreadsheets after being injected with horse tranquilizer. I’ve seen the man happy and laughing and he still sounds like grandpa quietly muttering to himself about how his neighbor put something he doesn’t like on his front lawn. He does have a charisma of sorts, but it isn’t TV show charisma. It’s anti-charisma charisma. Watch his Letterman interview. He barely even talks. The interview is incredible because of how clear it is Belichick does not want to be there. You can’t really make a TV show around that. My favorite Subway commercial is the one where they made him simply stand there. Whoever made that ad knew what they were working with. It’s not that Bill wouldn’t be an invaluable voice on an analyst show and frankly I would learn so much if he had one, he just isn’t built for TV in that way. Maybe if they give him a personalized segment or something where they could use his knowledge and demeanor for comic effect. Bills Grumble Corner.
Now that I think about it, Bill would be a phenomenal Manningcast guest and the chances he shows up to one next year while he’s got free time is high.
But I don’t see him as a TV guy. He’s a nerd, so his segments would be for football heads and not casuals, but most TV coverage is intended for casuals. If he does end up on TV, I will watch him.
The real question is where does he land next year. There is the potential result of him simply never coaching again, but I don’t think we can just write him off. He is old and he is going to demand a lot of control over the team but there is still a pretty good chance a team will take that gamble next year. A stupid team, most likely. One desperate to make a splashy choice, likely after being burned by a bad choice with a young hotshot. So the obvious options are the teams with coaches on the hot seat entering 2024.
Giants – Daboll’s second year was a disaster. Whatever leash the COTY award bought him is used up, and this season has to be an improvement otherwise he’s gone. I’ve heard rumors Belichick doesn’t think too highly of the current Giants ownership group (He was on the team during the Wellington years, and Wellington is highly regarded, Failson John is not). But this is very obviously one of the most clear landing spots. He has a history with the Giants, Mara would be the kind of dope to shell out the big bucks to land the legacy hire because he’s obsessed with the prestige image of the team. If this job is open next season, it’s Bill’s if he wants it. I just don’t know if he wants it. Not sure I’d want it either.
Jets – If Rodgers doesn’t come back healthy and immediately take this team to the playoffs Saleh is probably fired before the season even ends. But Belichick has spent his career telling the New York Jets how much he hates them, so I don’t think he turncoats. I can see Woody Johnson trying to get him though and Belichick mailing him another napkin saying no.
Jaguars – After the late-season collapse last year Doug’s seat is probably at least a little warm. To be clear, it should not be, Doug is a good coach, but that collapse will put any coach on notice and the mishandling of Trevor’s injury was ugly. Would Bill want to chill out in sunny Jacksonville with a franchise QB in place? I…could see it. But the chances this job is open feels low.
Bears – Now here’s an intriguing thought. The Bears draft Caleb and do whatever with Fields but the team still struggles a lot and Eberflus bites the dust. Would Chicago be a decent spot to go? They would presumably have the QB position locked in and plenty of room for GM Bill to maneuver. Yeah, I can see this. Bears ownership is cheap but if they fire Ryan Poles and only have to pay Billy for both coach and GM jobs this could work.
Saints – The Saints firing Dennis Allen seems all but certain unless fucking magic happens. But this would be a rotten spot to go because the team is a mess of bad contracts and lack of talent, especially at QB. The division is soft though, maybe a good spot to farm wins.
Cowboys – McCarthy has to be at the end of his rope. The playoff embarrassment can only happen so many times. Bill has a relationship with Jerry Jones, who would absolutely hire him. To be honest I think this is probably the highest probability of all, if McCarthy does indeed bite it. It would be a great spot to go, too. Weaker division, good QB and excellent defense pieces already in place, this could work out very well for Bill and I would hate this with every fiber of my being. The one sore spot I see would be giving Bill roster control, Jerry and Stephen Jones would be reluctant to give up their own power.
Eagles – Sirianni got exposed as a big fat dope last year and that big fat dope could be a big homeless dope pretty soon if the team does not improve back to competitor levels. But Howie would never give up roster control so I doubt Bill goes here if the job is free.
Broncos – I suppose this is a plausible opening but I don’t see it happening. Walmart boy paid an assload for Payton so I think he gets at least 3 seasons. They gotta get past the Russ mistake.
Naval Academy – Don’t rule it out, okay. He might.
He’ll be back. He wants Shula’s record. Even for the short time he’ll have it before Reid takes it off him.
I dunno, I think Reid barely stayed in the game this year at all so he could go for the three-peat. If they’d lost the SB, Bill coming in to replace a retiring Andy might have been what we saw.
Reid’s still behind Belichick by like 50 wins. I don’t know that he stays in the game long enough to do it (even if that’s only like 3-4 seasons for Kansas City).
Belichick will be 72 next month. I don’t really think he has the luxury to bide time.
I wouldn’t want this to happen, but I think Bills could be possible. McDermott was on the hot seat last year, the only thing that saved him was winning all those games at the end of the season to go from out-of-contention to 2 seed. But even then, the team didn’t show up well in the playoffs again. If it’s a bad year this year, it’s possible McDermott’s rope runs out. From there, Pegula might get trigger-happy and fire Beane too. Pegula also has a history of throwing money at a coach solely because of name recognition factor (obviously Rex Ryan, but he’s done this in hockey with Ted Nolan and Ralph Krueger)
I’m guessing you haven’t seen his work on the NFL 100 show then, or his recent appearance on College Game Day, or any of his local media spots with his former players (understandably on the latter one. I’m not exactly watching NYC media about the Giants or Jets). Yes, the Letterman interview is cold, but Dave is a die-hard Colts fan, and this was right after “Deflategate” – it wouldn’t have been warm and fuzzy with anyone.
He’ll never be cuddly and extroverted, and there’s no guarantee he’d be good at any specific TV gig he might land, but there’s plenty of evidence of him being an engaging personality on radio and TV. At some point it seems to have just become accepted wisdom that the only version of him is his press conference persona.
I thought the same thing. The awkwardness of that Dave Letterman interview had absolutely EVERYTHING to do with the subject and how Dave was hammering on him about it. Belichick is absolutely entertaining when he wants to be, and his comedic timing is subtle, but spot on. He DID win an Emmy, after all, for his work on the NFL 100 All-Time Team.
As a Pats fan, I would LOVE to see him end up back with the Giants or at the naval academy
It’s kind of hard to believe that we lost both of Nick Saban and Bill Belichick in the same offseason. Plus Pete Carroll too. I know they’re all very old, but you just felt like all of them were going to stay on the sidelines someway, somehow until they died.
If I had to guess, Bill’s probably just biding his time until a better opportunity opens up. Most likely Dallas if they do end up moving on from McCarthy. That said, I’d love to see him jump down to coaching the Naval Academy. I wouldn’t put it past him, even if he’s not really a college guy.
I think his persona as a boring, football-only, joyless hardass, isn’t really an act per se, but may be exaggerated. He’s a boomer, and like a lot of men of that generation, sometimes having emotions/feelings/expressing joy is frowned upon. So he may be suppressing his real personality a bit. It wouldn’t surprise me if he got comfortable in front of the cameras without the pressure of being a coach. I’m not saying he’d magically become as loose as Charles Barkley, but it could happen.
I see BillyB as being more like Shaq — he may (?) have great insight, but he mumbles so badly that you can’t make out more than every third word
I could see Bill being a good analyst the way Bill Cower is. X’s and O’s, explanation type.
It is more likely he will coach after a year off. Dallas does seem like a landing spot if they have another early playoff exit with the team’s talent level.
NYG, if the want him, would also be a team Bill would want to go back to I think.
I could see Bill being good on TV, based off of how he was on College Gameday for the Army/Navy game. Very pleasantly surprised by how good he was.
Bill would be fine on a long-form show. He would be wasted as a talking head on an “argue with three other people for 20 seconds a pop” show.
What is Belichick’s favorite Village People song?
Why would Annapolis be a landing spot for Bill?
Belichick grew up in Annapolis and his father was an assistant coach for the Naval Academy.
his dad coached there forever. he has a well-known affection for the NA. probably doesn’t REALLY make sense, but does make poetic sense.
What are you doing in Annapolis, Bill?
TBH, I always thought that if forced to take a year off, Bill would take a Division III lacrosse team to a national championship. Lacrosse has always been his first love.
Lacrosse is Algonquin for “blood sport”