Getty Bill Belichick, Patriots coach and possible ... NFL trade target?
On Tuesday, there was nothing doing on the Patriots trade front for Bill Belichick, as the October 31 deadline passed meekly without a major New England deal. On Wednesday, after Belichick dismissed any discussion of the trade deadline at his press conference, the tables turned on Belichick: HE was the subject of an NFL trade rumor.
That’s according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, who was addressing Belichick’s future in New England more than anything specific at the deadline. And Florio, as is his wont, had a doozy this time around: A Bill Belichick trade to Washington, in the offseason. (H/T NESN.com)
“I heard something over the weekend,” Florio said on his podcast, “PFT Live,” “and I’ve been trying to think of the best way and the best time to talk about it. And it’s not a ‘report.’
“Look … you hear certain things that make you say, ‘Whoa, hmm, that’s interesting.’ And what I heard over the weekend from someone I know and someone I trust that made me say, ‘Whoa, that’s interesting’ is the possibility that the end result for the Commanders is a trade with the Patriots for Bill Belichick.”
Why Was Bill Belichick’s Patriots Contract Extension Leaked?
A Patriots Bill Belichick trade would qualify as interesting. Certainly, there needs to be a way for both sides—Robert Kraft and the team on one side, and Belichick and his horde of assistant coaches who have flopped elsewhere on the other—to move forward from a situation in New England that has ground to a halt.
The Patriots are 2-6 and have gone steadily backward since letting Tom Brady go in 2020. They were 7-9 in 2020, made the playoffs at 10-7 with rookie Mac Jones in 2021, then slipped to 8-9 and now, 2-6.
But Florio referenced the odd timing of the leaked story about Belichick, even with the utter failure this season has been, having gotten a contract extension in the offseason. That story came out just before the Pats’ Week 7 game, and Florio posited that the motivation for that leak came from the Patriots.
“It’s a reminder: You’re not just going to be able to go hire Bill Belichick,” he said. “If you want him, you gotta deal with us. We have his contractual rights for multiple years, we’re not gonna fire him. We’re going to wait for someone to call us up and offer us something for him, we’re going to get back what we gave the Jets to get him. We’re gonna get back value for this asset, even if we are done with him.”
NFL Coach Trades Do Happen
There is some irony, of course, in Bill Belichick being named in a Patriots trade rumor. The man does not talk about trade rumors or, indeed, anything related to trades. He was asked about Tuesday’s inactive trade deadline at his presser and said, in typical Belichick fashion, “We’re getting ready for Washington.”
No, not a trade of himself to Washington—the Commanders are the Patriots’ Week 9 opponent.
But Washington is in the midst of an overhaul of the franchise under new owner Josh Harris, and traded away two of their top assets—ends Montez Sweat and Chase Young—at Tuesday’s deadline.
For the Patriots, sending Belichick to Washington would, as Florio mentioned, be a full-circle moment. Kraft had to give up a 2000 first-round pick to the Jets for the rights to Belichick (plus two other later pick swaps), who had been involved in a messy divorce from New York.
Getting this Patriots-Belichick trade rumor to fruition would, hopefully, provide a less messy divorce this time around.