Bill Belichick has revealed the worst part of being an NFL coach, as the Patriots legend prepares for his first year away from an NFL sideline in nearly 50 years.
With the NFL returning next week, each team will have to cut their rosters down to 53 players by Tuesday night, and Belichick explained on ESPN’s ‘Pat McAfee Show’ how much he hated ‘firing’ people from his squads.
‘As a head coach in the NFL, that’s 100 percent the worst part of the job,’ he said.Â
‘You have players that come in and they have dreams, and they do everything you ask them to do,’ he continued.
‘They lift weights, they work hard, they train, they’re in the meetings. They they’re early, they stay late… and ultimately 90 players come to camp and 53 [allowed] on the roster, you’re firing 37 people.’
Bill Belichick revealed that cutting players is the worst aspect of being an NFL head coach
He made the admission on the ‘Pat McAfee Show’ ahead of the NFL roster deadline
Belichick, who was effectively the Patriots’ GM as well as its head coach (he also served the same roles with the Browns), explained how he was basically viewed as the grim reaper when he entered the league in 1975 as a special assistant for the Baltimore Colts.Â
‘My first year in the league in Baltimore, I was the guy… I was Bad News Billy. And if they saw me coming anywhere around – nobody wanted to see me,’ he said.
Ultimately, while Belichick may have found cutting players to be painful, it’s clear that he did a good job with his personnel decisions as the Patriots won six Super Bowls in his time there as head coach from 2000 to 2023.
After parting ways with New England earlier this year, he was unsuccessful in landing another head coaching job after interviewing twice with the Falcons.
Belichick will fill his time this season with appearances on the ‘McAfee Show’, and also as an analyst on The CW’s ‘Inside the NFL.’
However, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero previously said that the 72-year-old was ‘fully invested’ in returning to the NFL coaching ranks next year.
