Since Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots parted ways after 24 remarkable seasons, football fans and sports bettors have wondered about his next stop.
Belichick, 71, presumably wants to break Don Shula’s all-time wins record of 347. With 333 wins to his ledger, he needs 15 to pass him, which would realistically only take one or two more seasons.
Unfortunately for Belichick, several top suitors have already passed on him.
The Dallas Cowboys opted to keep Mike McCarthy after his latest early playoff exit.
The Los Angeles Chargers hired Jim Harbaugh fresh off his College Football Playoff National Championship with Michigan.
And the Atlanta Falcons — who interviewed Belichick twice — chose Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris, according to numerous media reports.
That leaves Belichick with only a few viable options.
The Washington Commanders are a potential destination given their proximity to his home in Massachusetts and Belichick’s D.C. roots, but beyond that, there aren’t many natural fits remaining.
It’s possible Belichick may not end up coaching at all next season. He could take a year off, do some TV work or retire after 49 seasons as an NFL coach.
Where will Belichick end up? Let’s see what the sports betting odds say.
Bill Belichick Next Team Odds
As of late January, these were the odds at DraftKings for which team Belichick will coach in Week 1:
- Not the head coach of an NFL team: -1600
- Any other NFL team: +900
- Washington Commanders: +900
- New York Giants: +20000
- New York Jets: +20000
Given Belichick’s limited options, DraftKings does not expect him to find a new head coaching job this offseason.
The heavy minus odds suggest he’s far more likely to remain unemployed than find a new coaching gig.
With that, he doesn’t seem to have any promising leads considering the Falcons are the only team that’s interviewed him so far this offseason. Only two open head coaching jobs remain — the Commanders and the Seattle Seahawks.
Washington is an option and has the best odds of any team to hire Belichick at 9/1.
That makes sense considering he probably wouldn’t want to move across the country to coach the Seahawks, who are likely looking to replace 72-year-old Pete Carroll with a younger coach.
It’s possible that another team, like the New York Jets or New York Giants, fires its head coach after a disappointing season, but that appears unlikely at this stage in the hiring cycle.
DraftKings gives both teams 200/1 odds of hiring Belichick.
The odds that Belichick goes anywhere besides Washington or New York are 9/1 – an implied probability of just 10%. That covers Seattle and any other surprise team that emerges.
Belichick’s resume is impressive, but much of his success in New England was tied to Tom Brady.
Without Brady, Belichick’s record as a head coach is 82-98. He’s also coming off a dismal 4-13 campaign where the Patriots had a historically bad offense.
Given Belichick’s advanced age, there’s a concern that the modern game has passed him by.
The last few seasons without Brady exposed his flaws and blind spots, namely an inability to identify offensive talent and develop a young quarterback.
The current coaching trend in the NFL is to promote young, offensive-minded coordinators to head coaching roles: the exact opposite of Belichick.
If this is the end for Belichick, it’s been an incredible run.
At least now he’ll have plenty of time to polish his eight Super Bowl rings.
Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
