Former Super Bowl MVP: It's 'crazy' Bill Belichick wasn't hired for any HC vacancy
Retired New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman and longtime former teammate tight end Rob Gronkowski discussed a host of topics on their recent appearance on the "Chasin' It With Chase Daniel and Trey Wingo" podcast.
Among them was the future of legendary former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, who led both players to three Super Bowl victories during their playing careers. Belichick and New England mutually agreed to part ways in mid-January and the 71-year-old remains unemployed after all eight of the NFL's head-coaching vacancies were filled this offseason.
"It's crazy," Edelman said. "Yeah he's tough, yeah he's a force to work with, but any team that brings him in instantly gets like 35% better because of the amount of knowledge he knows, the amount of experience that he has. He's seen everything through the game. Yes he's had his struggles these couple of years, but this is a quarterback league. You gotta find a quarterback regardless of where you are."
The three-time AP Coach of the Year ended his Patriots tenure with a regular season record of 266-121 in 24 seasons and a 30-12 mark in the playoffs (6-3 in the Super Bowl).
Belichick went 219-64 in the 20 years with Tom Brady as his quarterback, while capturing all six of his Super Bowls and was just 84-103 in his coaching career without TB12 under center. That included a 29-38 record after Brady left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ahead of the 2020 campaign, which has led to criticism being thrown Belichick's way.
A 7-9 season in 2020 (Edelman's final year in the league) saw former MVP Cam Newton as New England's primary starter and Brady and "Gronk" helped lead the Bucs to a Super Bowl crown. The Pats bounced back in 2021 as then-rookie quarterback Mac Jones got the team back to the playoffs with a 10-7 mark, but they were eliminated in the wild-card round.
Jones regressed from his Pro Bowl debut campaign in 2022 and New England went 8-9 to miss the postseason. The Alabama product's production sunk even further in a disastrous 2023 campaign for Belichick and company, as the signal-caller was benched multiple times.
The Patriots missed the playoffs for the second straight year and finished in last place in the AFC East at 4-13 for their worst record since 2000. That was Belichick's first year at the helm and Brady was a rookie, still one season away from taking over as the starting quarterback.
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