Tom E. Curran thinks Belichick ‘got what he deserved’ by having ‘people around him who can't give good advice’

Tuesday’s docket for sports talk in Boston is particularly stacked for this time of year, especially with the Bruins not participating in the Stanley Cup Playoffs:

- The Celtics have a chance to close out their first round series with the Magic to advance to the second round of the NBA Playoffs

- Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet (2-2, 1.95 ERA) takes the mound in Toronto as Boston goes for their third straight win

- Continued reaction to the Patriots’ 2025 draft

With all of that said, Bill Belichick’s bizarre interview with CBS News Sunday Morning and the continued fallout from it is dominating the conversation both on the airwaves and on the internet, fueled further by his 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson posting a screenshot - presumably written by the six-time Super Bowl champion - bemoaning some of the perceived negative media coverage his new book has received while on his promotional tour.

If you live under a rock and have not watched this strange eight-minute sitdown between Belichick, CBS News reporter Tony Dokoupil and, indirectly, Hudson, please stop what you’re doing and give it a watch:

Two days after its airing, Hudson posted the aforementioned screenshot as a grid-post on her Instagram account, accompanied by the song “Look What You Made Me Do” by Taylor Swift as well as a second screenshot of what looks to be the thumbnail for a 35-minute video - unclear what the video is about as it’s just showing a blurry picture of two different people’s sneakers. The caption for the post reads, “Full statement to be released later today.”

In case this post gets deleted later, here’s the screenshots:

Jordon Hudson
A screenshot of the first slide from Jordon Hudson's Instagram post from April 29, 2025 Photo credit Instagram
Jordon Hudson
A screenshot of the second slide from Jordon Hudson's Instagram post from April 29, 2025 Photo credit Instagram

As we wait with bated breath for whatever Hudson and Belichick have cooking, below is what NBC Sports Boston’s Tom E. Curran had to say about the situation when he joined Jones and Keefe on Tuesday afternoon.

With Curran having covered the entirety of the Belichick era in New England and at one time having a good relationship with the Patriots legend, we thought it best to give everything he said on this, fully uncut:

Curran: “My biggest takeaway is - and I just don't feel like getting into the relationship and the oddness of the age gap and stuff. The other stuff, the pertinent [stuff] is the football and how it's going to work out. I get it, there's interest. And there ought to be.

“What I would say with this interview - from the time he's walking out in that absurd sweatshirt, which just didn't hit. There was no great thrust to the appearance of it. So he looked like, you know - it was bad advice, and it's just been a litany of bad advice. He needs Berj Najarian in the worst possible way. He needs somebody to tell him ‘no.’ He needs somebody who has been around media and understands the landscape and understands journalism and understands appearances and is savvy.

“You know, I don't think Bill reads the room very well, which is an understatement. He's gotten by because he's had cachet as being an absolutely brilliant football mind, but people only see snippets of Bill at press conferences when he's peeing on the foreheads of reporters on the days that he decides to do that. There's plenty of days when he decides to be engaging in fun, and I was on the other side of those, too. But you don't know what you're gonna get. In the context of that, we needed him. He had the cachet. We needed to talk to him. The NFL needed to talk to him. CBS needed to talk to him. Everyone wanted to talk to Bill.

“Now, Bill kind of has to go a little bit hat in hand to try and drum up the relevance for his program and what he's going to do and what his book reads and how he's going to make UNC the 33rd team and even drum up intrigue for him to come back to the NFL. And in that context, he needs somebody to tell him, ‘This is the best way to do it.’ And showing up in a ratty ass t-shirt with your 52-year-old junior girlfriend who doesn't understand [that] when the cameras are rolling - this isn't Patriots.com, this is ‘CB friggin’ S.’ And if you pipe up while something's on the record, it might end up in the friggin’ story.

“Bill knows that. When I would talk to Bill on the phone, he understood the elements of on-the-record and off-the-record. I would call him and Bill would always say, ‘Is this on the record?’ And the rules of that are, the journalist has to say, either, ‘Yes, it's on the record. No, it's off the record.’ And it has to be verbal agreement. So then anything that he says after that, I can't use. And if he wanted to go back on the record to tell me something, he would say, ‘This is on the record.’ Or I would say, ‘Can I use that on the record?’ And he would go back on. So he understands that everything is fair game. Apparently, his assistant doesn't. So he got what he kind of deserved in that instance by having people around him who can't tell him or give him good advice.”

Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson
Bill Belichick, Jordon Hudson at the 14th Annual NFL Honors held at Saenger Theatre on February 06, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Photo credit Christopher Polk/Variety/Getty Images

Adam Jones: “TMZ Sports had some great reporting on the interview, although they concluded with a bit of an understatement - they said there's a growing sense that this could become a problem for Bill at UNC. You were on a couple weeks ago with WEEI Afternoons. You said - and this is more about everyday employees - but you said they're not loving the Bill Belichick experience down at UNC. I mean, I guess you were in front of that for sure. But have you heard anything subsequent to that?

Curran: “No, I haven't. This just seems to be a continued out-growth of what he's dealing with. And again, he just doesn't have the cachet that he did to make the decisions that he's making and have them go unchecked. And he doesn't have the people around to run interference, like an entire football organization that's worth $6 billion that's devoted completely - that Bill helped build - completely to the goal of winning and making their players and coaches look good. He's kind of out there on his own right now, and he needs Berj Najarian - his brain and assistant for however many years, close to 25 with him.”

Notable from Curran’s quotes are his multiple mentions of Najarian, who worked for the Patriots under Belichick as his director of football/head coach administration, often described by the media who covered the team as Belichick’s “right-hand man.” When Belichick and the Patriots mutually parted ways in January of 2024, Najarian left the organization to work for former New England offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien - who pivoted from an OC job with Ohio State to become the head football coach of Boston College. Najarian is listed as BC football’s chief of staff on their team website.

Bill Belichick and Berj Najarian
East Rutherford, NJ - October 30: New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick shakes hands with assistant Berj Najarian following a 22-17 victory over the New York Jets. The win was Belichicks 325th as a head coach in the NFL, moving him past George Halas for second-most all-time. Photo credit Jim Davis/The Boston Globe/Getty Images

The entire post-Patriots experience for Belichick continues to be endlessly fascinating to fans around New England.

We’ll have you covered on all things related to #JordonGate as the story develops.

Featured Image Photo Credit: Christopher Polk/Variety/Getty Images