Ex-Patriot’s story might have you thinking differently about Bill Belichick
Retired New England Patriots safety Devin McCourty’s recent media tour has been relevatory at times. McCourty shared an anecdote about the Patriots’ current linebackers coach/co-de-facto defensive coordinator/son of head coach Bill Belichick, Steve Belichick that was definitely funny but will also highlight the NFL’s issue with nepotism, and coaches hiring their sons for prominent positions, […]
Retired New England Patriots safety Devin McCourty’s recent media tour has been relevatory at times.
McCourty shared an anecdote about the Patriots’ current linebackers coach/co-de-facto defensive coordinator/son of head coach Bill Belichick, Steve Belichick that was definitely funny but will also highlight the NFL’s issue with nepotism, and coaches hiring their sons for prominent positions, in coaching circles.
Steve Belichick has helped lead a successful defense for the last four years, which was McCourty’s overarching point. But even Steve Belichick readily admitted that he was under-qualified to coach safeties when he took over the role at 29 years old in 2016.
“The one thing that I’ve loved about Steve is his honesty,” McCourty said on ex-Patriots defensive end Chris Long’s “Green Light” podcast, via NESN.com. “I remember Steve takes over (after) Pat Graham left, (former safeties coach Brian Flores) is moving to linebackers coach, and Steve said Bill tells him two weeks before the offseason program starts that he’s going to be the safeties coach.
“Now he’s walking in the room, it’s me, Pat Chung, Duron Harmon, Nate Ebner. We’ve got all these veterans — I’m older than Steve, Pat’s older than Steve, he played with Duron (at Rutgers) and he’s probably the same age as Nate — and he walks in and goes, ‘Yo, I’m going to be honest with y’all. I don’t know what the F I’m doing right now. My dad told me two weeks ago that I was even going to have this job.’ And now I’m just sitting here like, ‘I don’t know, what’s next?’ And that first year, we all just worked together.”
The Patriots’ defense ranked seventh-best in EPA per play that season. They were fifth in EPA per play, and McCourty was named a second-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection. So, it worked. And the Patriots the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI that season.
“Now when I look at him, I think his growth has come because of the honesty, not coming in saying, ‘My dad is Bill Belichick. I was born to coach. I’m going to do this,’ ” McCourty said. “No, he came in and was like, I’m going to learn from some veterans that I’ve got in this room, take advantage of that opportunity that I get, and I’m going to grow as a coach.
“And I think now, you look at him and the games he’s coached in — like, the game we played against Tampa back in 2021, that’s one of the biggest games. You’ve got Tom Brady coming back (to Foxboro), and that’s one of our better performances of the year. We fell short, but we went out there and played tough with Brady. And I think that has come from Steve just continuing to build year in and year out.”
McCourty believes Steve Belichick could follow in his father’s footsteps to become an NFL head coach one day, though he believes Jerod Mayo, New England’s other co-de-facto defensive coordinator Jerod Mayo will be New England’s next head coach.
“A wild card (head-coaching candidate) that probably shouldn’t be a wild card would be Stevie B — Steve Belichick,” McCourty said. “He’s a Belichick. He’s now been the coordinator — I know it’s not on paper — but he’s been the coordinator for the last three or four years, and his defenses have all performed well.
“And it’s a combination between him and Mayo running it, but I think obviously, if you hire him, you still get Bill. You still get everything that he’s done. You get his knowledge, because he’s not just going to leave his son. But I think both of those guys will have the chance to be head coaches someday.”
Steve Belichick was hired as a defensive assistant and served that role from 2012 to 2015. He was the Patriots’ safeties coach from 2016 to 2018 and secondary/safeties coach in 2019. He’s been a linebackers coach since 2020. Belichick took on coordinator duties in 2019 after Flores left to become the Miami Dolphins’ head coach.
Featured image via Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
