NESN’s Travis Thomas gave the six teams he believes could be in the market for Bill Belichick next offseason, while filling-in on Jones & Mego on Friday. While five of the six teams he mentioned have been previously linked to Bill in some form or fashion, there was a surprise team in the mix.
The San Francisco 49ers.
“This is the most far-out of all these teams I’ve said,” said Thomas. “Because all of these teams I’ve said kind of make sense. This is a longshot. I said going into last season, that I thought if they do not win the Lombardi [Trophy], this coach is going to start being held accountable. How long will that take until a change is made? That I don’t know.
“I think at this point, with not winning the Lombardi, especially in the way it was done, I think John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan, I think they’re going to be held to the fire. No one is going to say this publicly - they must win a Super Bowl.
“I do not believe the 49ers are even going to the Super Bowl. I think they’re going to lose, whether it’s NFC title game, whether it’s divisional, whatever, I think they lose in the playoffs along the way. And then the question is, is it ‘ok now it’s preheating,’ or is it ‘we got to make a change, we’re ready to win, our window’s open, drastic moves.’
“You bring in a big name GM, and you bring in a big name head coach named Bill Belichick, and you tell him, ‘Just coach, Coach. You ain’t GM’ing anything around here. We’ve seen that movie in New England. But we believe you can coach. You pass the all-time record here. You’ll win a Lombardi here. Here’s Tom Brady 2.0 in Brock Purdy.’ There you go.”
Kyle Shanahan has a 64-51 career regular season record as head coach of the 49ers. He has won the NFC Championship two times in his seven years at the helm, and is 0-2 in Super Bowls. Both Super Bowl losses came at the hands of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs (2019 and 2023).
Here’s the rest of Travis’ list:
Cleveland Browns
“This is a franchise Bill has a relationship with. It’s not like the Jets. He didn’t nuke the bridge, in other words. It was bad, but it wasn’t ‘Jets bad.’ And for whatever reason, I’m a big Kevin Stefanski fan. I actually think he’s an underrated coach. For some reason, the Browns - maybe because it’s the Browns - the Browns fan, the media, they’ve been trying to run this guy out of town since he’s gotten there.
“So Browns I could see. Team close, ready to win now, at least in their mind, [if] you bring in Bill.”
Dallas Cowboys
“Cowboys I think kind of make sense, right? Ready to win. People are sick of fat-mouth Mike McCarthy. They’re probably going to be handcuffed paying Dak [Prescott]. So Jerry, at this advanced age, he admires Bill. Bill’s old, they’ll talk about old stuff together in their rocking chairs. He brings in Bill.”
New York Giants
“We know that identity, and I actually think they’re going to be the worst team in the league this year. So I could see some wholesale changes there.”
Buffalo Bills & Philadelphia Eagles
“Coaches kind of, you know, not announced ‘hot seat’ but feels hot seat-ish. Teams that are ready to win right away.”
Belichick is slated to spend the 2024 NFL season on TV, making regular appearances on ESPN’s Manningcast and The Pat McAfee Show, as well as joining the cast of Inside the NFL, now airing on The CW.