New England Patriots - NESN.com
The New England Patriots have undergone quite a bit of change over the past few years. Many of the leaders from their dynastic run at the start of the century are gone, and that includes legendary head coach Bill Belichick.
After the 2023 campaign, Belichick and the Patriots mutually decided to part ways, bringing an end to one of the most successful runs a head coach has experienced not just in the NFL, but in the world of professional sports.
One guy who played for Belichick quite a bit was Duron Harmon, who retired from the NFL on Wednesday morning. Having spent time with five teams besides New England, Harmon saw how different head coaches operated. In an exclusive interview with Owen Crisafulli, Harmon shared what made Belichick stand out from the rest of the pack.
“This is not a shot at any of the other coaches. I just think no other coaches put in the work that he put in, and when I say that, we look at the standpoint of Bill can coach every position, and there’s not many, if any, that can do that,” Harmon said. “There was just no stone left unturned, and I truly believe that nobody worked harder than him, and nobody put in the amount of work to build up his catalog of what football means to him.”
“There was also nobody who could explain the game the way that he could explain it. You go to certain teams, and 1st-and-10 just might mean 1st-and-10, or 2nd-and-10 might mean 2nd-and-10. We had a situation on every play.”
“Is it 1st-and-10 or is it P-and-10? Is it 2nd-and-10? OK, let’s get back on track. What do they like to do there? Or it’s 2nd-and-1, 2nd-and-2. Oh, it’s a waste down, they like to take shots here, especially when they’re in the plus-50 … It was like this man had the highest degree of football knowledge that I’ve ever been around.”
Belichick made his return to coaching when he accepted the North Carolina Tar Heels job back in December. In his first game against the TCU Horned Frogs on Monday night, things didn’t get off to a great start, as North Carolina suffered a blowout 48-14 loss.
Harmon learned a lot from Belichick, and while he isn’t looking to return to the NFL as a coach currently, he’s currently passing on his wealth of knowledge to the next generation of football players through his Duron Harmon Football Camp and the Harm Elite 7-on-7 team he founded back in 2017.
