Bill Belichick To The Bucs?

In New England, the bloom is off Bill Belichick’s rose, as he’s on track for his third losing season in four years since future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady left the Patriots to sign with the Bucs in free agency in 2020. Brady led Tampa Bay to a victory in Super Bowl LV in his first season with the team, as well as two playoff appearances before retiring prior to the 2023 campaign.

Belichick went 7-9 in 2020 before rebounding the next year with a 10-7 record. But the Patriots got throttled by the Bills, 47-17, in the first round of the playoffs. Belichick’s Patriots missed the playoffs in 2022 with an 8-9 record and New England is currently 2-8, which is prompting some to speculate that this might be his last season with the team.

The future Hall of Fame coach has struggled to find a replacement for Brady, as Cam Newton, Mac Jones, a first-round pick in 2021, and Bailey Zappe, among others, have not proven to be the answer.

Belichick, who turns 72 in April, has a 264-116 (.695) record with the Patriots, including 19 double-digit winning seasons – 18 of which came with Brady as his quarterback. Without Brady, Belichick has gone 27-33 (.450) over the last three and a half years, which has led some to surmise that Belichick’s success in New England was largely dependent on Brady.

If Todd Bowles were to get fired, Belichick would certainly be a big-name hire that could keep the Bucs relevant and in the eye of the national media, which is something that the Glazers desire. And it would help the Bucs sell tickets, which have been lagging since Brady’s departure after the 2022 season.

“He would make them money,” Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio said on Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean the Glazers and the Bucs would make a push to acquire Belichick, either.

Would The Bucs Pursue Bill Belichick?

Pewter Report has no knowledge that the Bucs would indeed pursue a possible trade for Belichick. Right now this is just speculation from Mike Florio. And Tampa Bay wouldn’t be the only team interested in the legendary head coach.

“There’s a theory out there that when the season ends, Josh Harris – the new owner of the Commanders – is going to call the Patriots and inquire about what it would take to get Bill Belichick,” Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio said during an appearance on The Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. Other teams could very well be interested in trading for him too, which would only drive the price up.

Belichick has a long-standing relationship with Bucs general manager Jason Licht, who worked for Belichick from 2009-11 as the Patriots personnel director, so there is a path to connect the dots. But acquiring Belichick would likely cost some significant draft capital, and it’s doubtful the Bucs would want to go in that direction with several major personnel needs the team must address in the offseason.

Plus, Belichick has been the de facto general manager in New England during his time there, drafting the players he wants to draft, and signing the free agents he wants to sign. If Belichick were to come to Tampa Bay, Licht would likely stay on as general manager but would no longer be in charge of having the ultimate say in personnel. Belichick’s track record when it comes to free agency and the draft has been very spotty lately, hence the three losing seasons in the last four years.

And at age 71 how much longer would Belichick want to coach for? Bruce Arians returned to coaching in Tampa Bay in 2019 at age 67 and abruptly retired at age 69 just three years later in 2022.

Belichick is currently third on the NFL’s all-time winning head coaching list. Some believe he is chasing Don Shula’s 328 career wins and once he passes Shula he will retire. That certainly wouldn’t bode well in the long run for a Bucs team that is reloading to make another Super Bowl run at some time, but certainly not within the next two years at least.

Next up for Belichick, who has 300 wins, is George Halas, who is second all-time with 318. But Kansas City head coach Andy Reid, who is 65, is fourth with 294 victories and catching up to Belichick fast.

“I think what will happen behind the scenes over the course of the next six to seven weeks, they’ll work out a deal,” Florio said. “If there is a deal to be made, it’s going to be worked out quietly between the Patriots, wherever he’s going to end up, and Belichick, and then after the season, the dominoes will all be lined up and it’s just a matter of flicking the first domino at the right time and it will all fall together the way that we won’t know until it happens.

“So the teams to watch that I mentioned, the Buccaneers, Panthers, Commanders, Chargers, those are the four I’d watch most closely. And of those, the one that I think is the most fascinating is the Buccaneers.”