We are at that point in the NFL season when coaches are starting to lose their jobs, and rumors begin to circulate regarding who will be the hottest candidates during the 2025 offseason. The most prominent of all continues to be Bill Belichick, who failed to secure a job on the sidelines this year and dabbled in new media ventures in the meantime.
Recent reports claimed he is very interested in getting back into coaching next year and is already looking at the potential landscape of where he could go. He is said to want as much power as he had in New England, meaning to be the head coach and the general manager.
Dianna Russini of The Athletic detailed what she's been hearing about the situation over the weekend, laying out what Belichick is hoping to get from his next team.
“Belichick wants as much authority as he can get in his next job, but very few teams are willing to grant any candidate the kind of freedom he had in Foxboro. Regardless, make no mistake: Belichick wants to be an NFL head coach in 2025.
...In 24 seasons with the Patriots, Belichick helped deliver six Super Bowl titles, nine conference championships, 17 division crowns and 30 playoff wins. That prosperity earned Belichick the trust of ownership and gave him the authority to operate with little oversight. He wants as much in his next post, but his past freedoms will be hard to come by.”
This seems to make it painfully obvious where the accomplished head coach will land in 2025, given the current rumors surrounding the inevitable firing of one head coach in the AFC South, and that is the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Bill Belichick has become the frontrunner to become the next head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars
Mike Florio of Pro Football talk revealed the likely extreme interest from the Jaguars after they suffered another embarrassing loss last Sunday, stating owner Shad Khan is willing to do whatever it takes to make the Jaguars a winning team again, which might include giving Belichick a lot of power over the team.
However, Florio noted there is "a belief in some circles" that Jacksonville's current GM Trent Baalke could remain with the team in 2025 almost as a bargaining chip, as he worked with Belichick on the Jets in 1998-99.
Mike Florio reports on Football Night in America that Jaguars GM Trent Baalke could keep his job into next season... and be joined "as part of a package deal" in Jacksonville by Bill Belichick as the new head coach. #NFL pic.twitter.com/qTeYx5pa0O
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 18, 2024
Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer further reinforced this point during an appearance on "The Dan Patrick Show" earlier this week, discussing the likelihood that Belichick's relationship with Shad's son Tony could be the catalyst to making the hire happen.
“Tony Khan has a real strong relationship with Belichick to the point where, when they hired Doug Marrone full time when they removed the interim tag in 2017, that was largely on the advice of Bill Belichick to do it.
I just wonder if that’s not rattling around in the heads of ownership there now especially when you’re building a new stadium. Not a new stadium, but you’re renovating your stadium and now you’ve got sponsorships to sell, you’ve got suites to sell, all of that stuff.”
Because the Jaguars have been an under-the-radar team for Belichick to land with next season since before Pederson's job was in full-blown jeopardy, the chances of it becoming the inevitable future seem much higher now than they ever have.