Much like his former quarterback, the start of the 2024 NFL season marks the launch of Bill Belichick’s sports media career.
And with roles with The Pat McAfee Show, Underdog Fantasy, The 33rd Team, SiriusXM, Inside the NFL and Omaha Productions, the former New England Patriots head coach won’t be hard to find.
But while Belichick will be omnipresent during the NFL season, one of his biggest fans has concerns about the actual analysis he’ll be providing. In particular, Bill Simmons wonders how much criticism the six-time Super Bowl champion head coach will be willing to issue as he eyes a potential return to the sideline in 2025.
“Here’s the thing: he’s gonna have to actually be critical and I don’t know if he’s gonna do it,” Simmons told Peter Schrager on the latest episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast. “If he’s coming back — ’cause we’ve seen it, we’ve seen all kinds of versions of this with basketball and football. Especially in basketball where the guys, they do TV for a year or two years — they don’t wanna really say anything ’cause they might coach again.”
Schrager proceeded to note how surprised now-Broncos head coach Sean Payton was when his criticism of Tua Tagovailoa made headlines when he was an analyst at Fox during the 2022 NFL season.
“Right out of the gate, he is like, ‘I don’t believe in Tua.’ And it made crazy news,” Schrager recalled. “I pulled him aside and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s gonna be a headline.’ He’s like, ‘Why? I don’t.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, but when you say it…’ And then you didn’t hear that again.”
So what is Simmons looking for in Belichick’s analysis?
“I know what I want,” The Ringer founder said. “If he’s really gonna be good at this, I want him to be like, ‘Alright, the Jaguars beat the Dolphins Week 1. I’m gonna look at the tape. Watch what they did against Tua. Because Tua, he’s good at this, but he’s bad at this. So when he is out there, you wanna make him roll to his right,’ and, like, explain to us like how he would coach against Tua. If he does that, he’s gonna be good.”
To Simmons’ point, such analysis doesn’t require “ripping” players, but it will mean Belichick being willing to at least point out strengths and weaknesses and how he would combat them. Could that lead to some uncomfortable situations when he inevitably takes a coaching gig in 2025? Perhaps. But if Belichick can’t, at a minimum, acknowledge players’ weaknesses, then it’s fair to wonder what the point of him being an analyst actually is.
Of course, the money doesn’t hurt, nor does the opportunity to rehab his once-surly image. Ultimately, time will tell how Belichick will fare as an analyst, and if nothing else, he’ll have plenty of opportunities to prove Simmons’ skepticism wrong.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.