It’s still going to be weird not seeing future Hall of Fame head coach Bill Belichick on the sidelines for the New England Patriots this season.
Belichick and the Pats parted ways following an ugly 2023 campaign in New England. It came after a brilliant 24-year run in which Belichick led the Patriots to six Super Bowl titles.
It was also a surprise to see that the 72-year-old Belichick was not hired by any other team to be a head coach. He had drawn interest from the Atlanta Falcons, among others. But nothing came to fruition on that end.
Belichick will now take a year off and look at returning to coaching for the 2025 season. But how close was he to joining another team?
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan touched on this recently while talking with insider Tim Kawakami of the Athletic.
According to Shanahan, San Francisco offered Belichick the job of defensive coordinator. He was also interested in bringing Belichick in for different roles.
“I did, I threw it out to him. He loves football so much that you never know what he … I can’t believe he’s not a head coach of a team right now. I know what I would do if I was an owner so that shocks me and the last thing you want to do is insult someone like Bill Belichick. But I know he just loves ball in its simplest form, so I threw it all out to him, whatever he wanted to do, [including defensive coordinator]. I was like ‘Would you be interested?’ And he was very nice and appreciative and he politely turned me down.”
Kyle Shanahan on San Francisco 49ers interest in Bill Belichick
San Francisco fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks after just one season. Before replacing him with assistant Nick Sorensen, there were rumors linking the defensive NFC champions to Belichick.
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San Francisco 49ers interest in Bill Belichick was real
Whether Belichick would even consider taking a defensive coordinator job after his success as a head coach is up in the air. Though, it seems highly unlikely.
What we do know is that his calling card is on the defensive side of the ball. Prior to being a head coach, Belichick served six seasons as Bill Parcells’ top coordinator with the New York Giants. He knows ball.
Based on what Shanahan had to say, the 49ers were really interested in bringing Belichick on. Their defensive took somewhat of a step back under Wilks last season. On the field, it would have been a perfect pairing with the offensive-minded Shanahan.
Alas, it was not to be.
Read more: Updated San Francisco 49ers news and rumors