Jaguars Dodged a Massive Bullet With Bill Belichick

Entering this weekend, the positivity and optimism surrounding the Jacksonville Jaguars is as high as it has been in a long, long time.

The Jaguars have the most exciting rookie in the entire 2025 NFL Draft class in Travis Hunter, one of the top play-callers and offensive-minded head coaches in football in Liam Coen, and a cunning and aggressive general manager in James Gladstone.

To top it all off, the Jaguars have a franchise quarterback in Trevor Lawrence, a No. 1 receiver in Brian Thomas Jr., and the franchise's only Pro Football Hall of Famer and the most beloved figure in team history, Tony Boselli, helping lead the charge in the front office.

The Jaguars still have to on the field and actually win games to prove the optimism is rooted in reality, but things feel, well, good for the Jaguars right now.

Now, take a quick second and think about what things might look like had the Jaguars hired Bill Belichick instead of Liam Coen?

No, the Jaguars were not close to doing so. And no, Belichick was never actually set to factor into the Jaguars' future plans. But for a long stretch of time in 2024, the Jaguars and Belichick were being linked together on a weekly basis by insiders.

Many pressumed the Jaguars would want a proven winner after it became clear that Doug Pederson was not the answer for the Jaguars. Belichick, of course, would take the North Carolina Tar Heels head coaching job a month before the NFL season even ended, so this was never actually close to happening.

And the Jaguars should be happy about that.

Belichick is a winner who has maybe the best resume of any coach in NFL history, but the last several months have proven why the Jaguars and the rest of the NFL are better off without arguably the greatest coach of all-time.

Simply put, Belichick has allowed too much distraction to seep into the UNC program before they even take a snap under him. His CBS interview and subsequent fallout involving his girlfriend Jordon Hudson has been one of the biggest stories in sports, prompting both Belichcik and CBS to put out statements on the matter.

And then on Friday, a second statement had to be put out concerning Hudson when UNC was responding to a report that Hudson was barred from UNC facilities.