Bill Belichick's latest admission calls final Patriots years into question

Since departing the Patriots earlier this offseason, Bill Belichick has become a fixture of NFL media, making the rounds and speaking more honestly than he ever did as a head coach. More notably, he's shown more of a personality and sense of humor that was not often shown throughout his career either, an aspect only heard about from tenured players he coached.

Despite his apparent disdain for the media, Belichick will become a permanent face alongside them. He is expected to be a weekly guest on ESPN's The Pat McAfee Show, Eli and Peyton Manning's The ManningCast, and one of the hosts of the CW's Inside the NFL.

It will be fascinating to hear what one of the greatest minds in football has to say about the current game, especially since this might just be a detour in his head coaching career.

Because he continues to make the rounds this offseason, he spoke with Pat McAfee on Monday to discuss whatever came to mind, most of which revolved around his career. At one point, McAfee asked him about his tenure as the Patriots general manager and head coach, working both simultaneously which is historically not the case for most teams.

It became a reported issue behind the scenes the last few seasons in New England, ultimately leading to his departure from the team after 24 years. Because of that, Belichick's admission about doing both jobs puts much of the last few seasons in perspective and calls a lot into question upon reflecting on that time.

Bill Belichick seems to admit that being a GM and head coach is too much for one person to handle

Without getting into the nitty gritty of what went on in Foxboro leading up to the "parting of ways with the Patriots," McAfee asked Belichick about the difficulty in filling both the general manager and head coach roles for a team.

He wanted to know about the inner conversation he must have had when trying to put together a competitive roster, knowing how difficult it would be to be both people on a team. Belichick quickly responded by admitting it's not easy to do those roles and that it's best for there to be designated people for each position who are on the same page and can work together efficiently.

It is fascinating to hear the man who infamously became the GM and head coach of the Patriots almost immediately upon his hiring in 2000. It makes you wonder how things could have gone differently had he forfeited his role as the general manager, something he allegedly offered to Robert Kraft before leaving the team.

Although he put together some of the greatest teams to ever play in the NFL, winning six Super Bowls during that time, there were plenty of down years too, especially near the end, that might have benefitted from someone else calling the shots regarding the roster. It could have been something that would have saved his job in New England.

Hearing this also provides some more context to how bad things must have been with the Krafts and Belichick at the end, which has been rumored to be a significant part of the breakup.

If Belichick was this open to dropping GM duties, then there must have been many more issues that couldn't be resolved for Kraft to decide it was time to let the most successful head coach in the history of the game go.

This also feels like a solid attempt by Belichick to send a message to all 31 other teams in the league that he is willing to be just a head coach on whatever team might be interested in hiring him for the 2025 season, something that many believe he will pursue next year. Since that made teams hesitant to interview him, this is a great advertisement that he is open to resuming duties as just a head coach wherever he lands next.

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