As the New England Patriots' 2023 season comes to an unceremonious end, all eyes are on Bill Belichick.
The Patriots are expected to part ways with their legendary head coach after 24 seasons, though no official announcement has been made. A decision could come soon after Belichick's meeting with team owner Robert Kraft, which reportedly is scheduled for Monday.
If Belichick's Patriots tenure is indeed over, he'll likely have no shortage of teams vying for his services. The Las Vegas Raiders, Washington Commanders, Los Angeles Chargers, Carolina Panthers, and Atlanta Falcons are among the potential fits for the eight-time Super Bowl champion (six with New England).
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Perhaps one of those destinations will intrigue Belichick, but would it behoove him to take a year off to reevaluate his future? After the Patriots' 17-3 loss to the New York Jets in Sunday's season finale, our Tom E. Curran made the case for Belichick to take a break from coaching and join a broadcast crew.
"If you look at CBS, or NBC, or FOX -- at FOX, you have the opportunity to work with Tom Brady or Rob Gronkowski. At NBC, you have the opportunity to work with Devin McCourty or Rodney Harrison. At CBS, they're going to perhaps wipe out all of their older folks who have been there for a long time because they have expiring contracts, (Bill) Cowher, Phil Simms, James Brown," Curran said on Patriots Postgame Live.
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"You go there, you catch your breath, you bounce your grandchildren on your knees for a while, you show what a great communicator you are, you show how sharp you still are, which he unbelievably is, and then you don't have to rush in to go coach the Panthers or the Bears or the Chargers. You don't have to squish the staff together in three weeks and be ready to go someplace else. You don't have to get into a pissing contest with the Krafts. To me, television for one year, 72 (years old) ain't what 72 used to be."
If Belichick starts a new career as an analyst, there's little doubt he would be outstanding. He has flashed his media brilliance on several occasions, including on NFL Network's NFL 100 All-Time Team for which he was nominated for the Sports Emmy category of "Outstanding Sports Personality - Studio Analyst." Most recently, Belichick stole the show as the guest picker for ESPN College GameDay.
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As great as Belichick would be on TV, he doesn't sound like someone interested in stepping away from the sideline any time soon. After Sunday's game, he was asked whether the Patriots' abysmal 4-13 season took the wind out of his sails.
"I enjoy coaching. Like I said, it was a disappointing season," Belichick said. "I like coaching the team, I like preparing the team, game planning, coaching on Sundays. But the results weren't good and none of us are happy with those."
Belichick is scheduled to hold his end-of-year press conference on Monday at 7:30 a.m. ET.