Sportsnaut
It’s been almost two years since Bill Belichick last coached a game for the New England Patriots, on January 7, 2024. Both sides have moved on since. The Patriots are already on their second head coach after realizing former Belichick pupil Jerod Mayo wasn’t the solution. Now they’ve hired another one of Belichick’s former linebackers turned head coach, Mike Vrabel.
While Belichick has also moved on in some ways by accepting the North Carolina Tar Heels’ head coaching job, it’s clear he still has some hard feelings for the Patriots’ organization.
According to 3 & Out’s John Middlekauff, Belichick has now banned all Patriots scouts from attending UNC practices. Belichick has yet to comment on the matter, and it’s possible he never will.
Yet, if true, it’s hard to see how this comes off as anything but petty. After all, preventing an NFL team from having access to analyze potential pro prospects doesn’t do anything to help their future careers take shape.
If anything, this makes UNC a slightly less attractive program for recruits to join. After all, if there’s bad blood between the Tar Heels and the Patriots, will it impact a prospect’s stock on draft day? That wouldn’t be fair to the football player who’s just trying to do his job, a mantra Belichick once spread like gospel.
Maybe Belichick didn’t want his players distracted by pro scouts, but if that was the case, then why only ban the Patriots’ staffers from attending? This just makes no sense, other than a 73-year-old man still trying to get back at his former employer, over a year after he was let go.
Besides, the Patriots recently admitted that they intend to build a Belichick statue outside their stadium, right next to the one they had built to recognize Tom Brady‘s accomplishments in New England.
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