Jets' passing on chance to hire Bill Belichick didn't make any sense
New North Carolina head football coach Bill Belichick walks on the court of Dean Smith Center during halftime of an NCAA basketball game between La Salle and North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Saturday. Credit: AP/Ben McKeown
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.
The Jets don’t know who their coach will be next season. But it won’t be Bill Belichick.
The Jets don’t know who their quarterback will be next season. But it probably won’t be Aaron Rodgers.
So the two most important people on next season’s Jets most likely were not present for Sunday’s matchup of a pair of 3-10 teams.
And with the Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence injured, you couldn’t even look forward to a potential Lawrence-Rodgers gunslinging game. The best you could hope for in an appropriately half-filled EverBank Stadium was an entertaining affair.
“OK, gentlemen, let’s play a little football,” referee Brad Rogers said before the opening coin flip.
More than a little football is what we got.
Rodgers and Davante Adams put on a premium aerial show in the second half as the Jets snapped a four-game losing streak with an exciting 32-25 victory over the Mac Jones-led Jaguars.
“Too little, too late,” Rodgers said of the Jets’ second win in nine games under interim coach Jeff Ulbrich. “But still special.”
Said Ulbrich: “It means everything . . . I’m embracing the moment right now.”
It was great for Jets fans in that the team finally pulled out a close one after a season of fourth-quarter flops. Plus, it’s one week closer to the real meaning of J-E-T-S, which this year is “Just End The Season.”
Still, the biggest story of the weekend was Saturday’s bombshell that Belichick recently reached out to the Jets (and other NFL teams) to inquire about their head-coaching jobs.
The Jets, according to a source, told Belichick that they weren’t in a position to consider him because they have just begun the process of searching for a coach and general manager.
A polite “thank you for your interest, we’ll keep your resume on file” to a six-time Super Bowl-winning coach.
The Jets have hired a consulting firm to conduct their search. I am not part of the firm. But here is my (free) advice:
When the greatest coach in the history of the NFL calls to see if he can rescue your downtrodden laughingstock of a franchise . . .
YOU TAKE THE CALL.
Belichick, at 72, likely has lost a little off his fastball (baseball term). It’s possible that hiring him and letting him run your football operation could be another expensive Jets debacle a la the past two seasons with Rodgers. Perhaps Belichick’s love of tweaking the Jets and his thinly veiled disdain for owner Woody Johnson would make this a match not made in heaven.
But a match not worth exploring? An idea not worth considering? A meeting not worth taking?
At the least, Johnson should have sat down with Belichick before the coach took his talents to the college ranks at North Carolina in a shocking move.
Belichick called the North Carolina job “a dream come true.” Then why does his contract include a clause that allows him to leave for another job on June 1, 2025, for a mere $1 million buyout?
Pro Football Talk reported that the buyout starts at $10 million and then drops by $9 million in a little more than six months.
So Belichick can escape his “dream come true” job if someone in the NFL comes calling before next season. Most likely the one after that. Got it.
Apparently, that someone won’t be the Jets. They are committed to a traditional process of interviewing the hot new assistant, the usual cast of retreads and maybe a successful college coach or two. Because that method has gotten the Jets so far in the past.
Perhaps a new approach this time would have filled the Bill.
If Johnson won’t consider Belichick because he doesn’t think he’s the best man for the job, then maybe that’s acceptable. A 72-year-old, post-Tom Brady Belichick would not be a sure thing, that’s true.
But if it’s personal acrimony between Johnson and Belichick that made this a non-starter, then Johnson is doing Jets fans a disservice. Again.
Yes, Belichick wrote “I resign as HC of the NYJ” on a napkin in 2000 before beginning his illustrious Patriots career.
And yes, Belichick criticized Johnson on TV after the owner fired coach Robert Saleh following a Week 5 loss.
“That’s kind of what it’s been there at the Jets,” Belichick said. “Barely won over 30% in the last 10 years. The owner being the owner, just ready, fire, aim.”
Was Belichick wrong? The firing of Saleh didn’t make sense in October and still didn’t make sense on Sunday, when Rodgers and Adams hearkened back to their Green Bay glory days and showed Jets fans what this season could have been if the owner hadn’t panicked when the team was 2-3.
Adams, after catching nine passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns, all in the second half, said: “Football is crazy, man.”
So was passing on a chance to hire Belichick.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.