Nearly 25 years ago, Bill Belichick became the head coach of the New York Jets. Of course, his time wouldn’t last long, after resigning less than 24 hours later, only to later become head coach of the New England Patriots, where he won six Super Bowls.
But the Patriots wanted to move on from the future Hall of Famer last offseason. Meanwhile, the Jets already hit the reset button on their organization by firing GM Joe Douglas and coach Robert Saleh. Naturally, due to their unique history, many assumed there would be no interest between Belichick and the Jets in rekindling their past relationship. However, those assumptions were wrong.
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Bill Belichick reached out to New York Jets this year
Some might think that Bill Belichick’s past actions, along with being their division rivals for over two decades, would mean the New York Jets were ruled out as a potential landing spot for the former Patriots coach. Yet, the latest intel from The Athletic’s NFL insider Dianna Russini indicates Belichick actually did have interest in trying to rebuild the Jets into a prominent franchise again.
“About two weeks ago, the New York Jets were informed (and were stunned to learn) that there was interest in their organization coming from Bill Belichick. The same Bill Belichick who, famously was the Jets’ head coach for less than a day 24 years ago, before scribbling on a piece of paper, “I resign as HC of the NYJ.” Belichick took great pleasure in torturing the Jets over his years as Patriots coach — and even more so in the last year as a TV analyst.
The Athletic’s Dianna Russini on Bill Belichick/New York Jets
For months, Belichick’s inner circle quietly had informal conversations with a few teams, testing the waters. A very small circle of people in the Jets building were made aware of his interest, though I was told no meeting or formal conversation ever happened because the UNC opportunity popped up. So in the end, none of the talks — with the Jets or any other NFL team — turned into anything serious, and now North Carolina is Chapel Bill.”
It will be interesting to see who the Jets settle on as their next head coach. After this tidbit of information was released, it will be impossible not to think of Belichick when analyzing the results of the next Jets head coach, along with monitoring Belichick’s success with the Tar Heels.