Does This Belichick Who's Running Around the Country Visiting Pro Days Look Like He's About to Retire to You?
One of the few things that makes this a great time of year in spite of all the low pressure, Nor’easter steel-toed boots we can’t seem to stop taking right in our collective nutsacks is watching Bill Belichick get to work team building. As I’ve said before there’s nothing he likes more than starting out rookie camps and OTAs with metaphors about how every season is like building a house. And this is the time of year he goes to the quarry supply places and starts picking out bricks. And for the true Beliphile, it’s a fascinating process to watch.
This year more so than probably any other. Because this year has had more media white noise, more rampant speculation, irresponsible conjecture and flat-out fictions pulled out of talk show hosts asses than any year ever. Belichick was forced to trade Jimmy Garoppolo against his will. Belichick is pissed. Belichick is warring with his quarterback. Belichick is fed up with meddling from his owner. I actually heard this one on the radio this week: Brady told Belichick he refuses to take a pay cut so Belichick said ‘Screw it. Then you lose Danny Amendola and Nate Solder if you want to play those games.’ Then there’s Belichick has lost the locker room. Which lost a lot of steam when leader and team captain Mathew Slater re-signed, but it’s not dead yet. And that perennial favorite, Belichick is done. He’s quitting. He wants to coach the Giants.
Well you tell me, are these the actions of a guy who’s miserable in his job, hates his boss, mortgaged the future by trading “the next Joe Montana,” which someone actually called Jimmy G the other day, and wants to quit? Flying around the country, working out the nuts and bolts of practice drills with 22-year-old prospects like it’s 1975 and he’s still driving Ted Marchibroda to the airport for 40 bucks a week? Well then what about his other Pro Day visits, such as:
NC State?
South Carolina?
Alabama?
And that doesn’t even include his earlier trip to Wisconsin, the fact when he was at NCSU he had Nick Caserio visiting Toledo. This is The Hooded One who’s been here for almost 20 years, doing Hooded One things. Coaching up young players. Charming the khakis of his fellow coaches. Just being Belichick-as-usual. Because he’s trying to win now. Trying to win next year. And every year he can draw a breath and give a prospect the finer points on how he wants to see him hit the blocking dummies. That same guy who’ll run a billion dollar business but still be on one knee in front of the bench on Sundays in the fall, going over the details as always. Those clowns who’ve claimed he’s retiring, bitter or mentally checked out will now proceed to ignore all the fake news they’ve been spewing for the last three months or so. But I for one will refuse to allow that to happen. #NoDaysOff