Our own JP Finlay has reported that Bill Belichick now being officially available after parting ways with the Patriots Thursday morning ‘doesn’t change things,’ and that Bill ‘is not in the Commanders’ plans,’ despite conflicting reports from national media.
Still, weird to see legends like Belichick, Pete Carroll, and Nick Saban not only stepping down or parting ways with their teams, but all doing so in the span of 24 hours.
“These guys that are in their seventies, but you know what's crazy about it? Carroll and Belichick still pretty clearly want to coach, and I know Belichick is going to,” Ross Tucker told the Junkies Thursday morning. “They asked Carroll what his advisor role was, and he said he had no idea, we haven't talked about it yet, and then he said he competed pretty hard to stay as the coach. I’m in awe of these guys – when I’m 72, there’s no chance I'd be able to be like a head coach doing what these guys are doing. I hope when I'm 72, I'm like on a beach somewhere or something. I’m amazed by these guys, but you don’t have the success they’ve had and do what they do without putting in all the hours.”
So if Belichick is going to coach somewhere else for sure, is Bill to DC really a thing, something that Eric Bickel vehemently does not want?
“That's a really tough one for me. If you want Belichick to come in there so he can be the second best coach in franchise history behind Joe Gibbs, then maybe he should,” Tucker said. “I think it's hard to argue against Bill Belichick, the head coach, and what he's accomplished, and I do think that there's more talent in Washington than there was in New England – but he was the guy bringing the players in New England, so it's his fault that that roster has gotten so bad. I would like to think that he'd be more interested in a team that looks like they're closer to winning right now; neither Washington nor Atlanta really has a quarterback, so I’m okay with EB feeling the way he does.”
The Belichick-Brady ‘chicken or the egg’ conundrum has clearly swung in favor of Brady since their breakup in New England, so the QB notion is a big one – and it makes Bill far from a ‘slam dunk’ in Tucker’s head.
“Belichick hasn't had enough success without Brady for me to act like this is like some slam dunk that they should absolutely try to get him,” Ross said. “Now, I think there's a pretty good chance that maybe the Commanders are interested because I would think that they would feel like it's hard to argue against him, and it changes the perception of the organization that Dan Snyder beat into the ground because he chose us – but if you're Josh Harris, don't you wanna try to get, like, your own Belichick? Or don’t you wanna try for a guy that can have a little bit more sustained, longer stint here?” It’s a young man’s game and a young man’s profession.”
“I don’t particularly want either one, because as a Commanders fan, I do want to find out kind of our own guy and build, but I’d rather have Peter Carroll,” EB fired back. “He has had more success recently and still obviously has a passion for the game and is locked in.”
As Tucker noted, Carroll has won ‘with a lot of different guys’ while Belichick has one playoff win in 10 seasons where Brady wasn’t his QB, so, yeah.
“If Tom Brady never played for Bill Belichick, is anybody talking about him in nearly the same regard?” Ross asked. “They’re not.”
So let’s get those two out of the way – if Tucker was on the Commanders’ search committee, who would he lean towards to lead the next Commanders regime?
“I will say this: I think Mike Vrabel is an awesome football coach, and look at the fans’ response to him leaving – but my guess is you guys are gonna be down on that, because he's a defensive side of the ball coach like Ron Rivera,” Tucker said. “There are issues when you have a defensive head coach, and the big issue is if you have success on the offensive side of the ball, you're gonna lose that coordinator. But guess what: Nick Sirianni is an offensive coach, but he gave up the play calling to Shane Steichen, and the Eagles lost both coordinators!’
That said…
“Vrabel won legit playoff games with Marcus Mariota, and they were the No. 1 seed with Ryan Tannehill,” Tucker said. “They beat the Ravens when Baltimore was 14-2, they ended Brady’s career in New England…that guy can coach. We were teammates in New England, and even if you listen to the Titans players talk about him, they all rave about him.”
Other than Vrabel, who might be a ‘no-brainer’ if New England doesn’t elevate Jerod Mayo?
“It’s hard to argue against Ben Johnson in Detroit,” Tucker said. “I just got done recording a podcast with Greg Cosell, and it was like taking my daughters to a candy store hearing him talk about the Lions’ offense.
There’s a reason why that guy is so sought after, and he’s gone this year. He’s going to have his pick of three or four teams.”