New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick once considered retiring before the age of 70. Coincidentally enough, that would have been this season, which would have perfectly aligned with former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ decision to leave Foxborough to join the Las Vegas Raiders.
Instead of leading the Death Star in the desert, McDaniels could have been handed the sleeveless hoodie off the back of Darth Belichick himself—an honor that would have made the Iron Throne look like a cheap, foldout garage chair.
Patriots fans would have welcomed the succession plan with open arms considering McDaniels has been there for every Super Bowl.
When the Patriots shocked the world by upsetting “The Greatest Show on Turf,” a young McDaniels was working and learning as a personnel assistant. When the team defeated the almighty Legion of Boom at Super Bowl XLIX, he was the man on the sideline wearing the offensive headset. When Tom Brady completed the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history against the Atlanta Falcons, McDaniels was the one in Brady’s ear for every second of it.
In many ways, it’s almost as if he had been groomed to take the reins when the scowling Belichick finally decided to ride off into the sunset. It could have been a seamless transition for a team with more questions than answers right now with the coaching staff.
Jerod Mayo could have taken over the defensive play-calling, while Matt Patricia stayed on staff as a senior advisor/assistant. Joe Judge could have focused on quarterbacks. McDaniels could have handled the offensive play-calling, along with serving as the head coach. But he likely would have been more open than Belichick to bringing in an outsider to take some of the load off his plate.
That goes without even mentioning the built-in connection he’d already have with the players, including second-year quarterback Mac Jones. Things would probably be far less chaotic than they are right now with Belichick serving as the de facto everything.
And that isn’t to suggest the legendary coach won’t pull everything together like the mad genius he is and wrap a pretty bow around it. Only a fool would undersell Belichick, who many consider to be the greatest head coach that ever lived.
But at 70 years old, he has more responsibilities now than ever before with no real succession plan in sight.
And maybe he doesn’t want one. Maybe the fire from coaching still burns as bright as when he first started. Perhaps 70 was just a number that sounded good in his mind until he actually arrived at it and reality told him something different.
On Friday night, the Patriots will close out their preseason slate against the Raiders, which will have Belichick sharing the field with McDaniels for the first time since the team’s 47-17 playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills. If anything, it’ll be an exhibition preview ahead of the Week 15 matchup between the two teams later on this year on December 18.
Darth Hoodie vs the former longtime apprentice at the Death Star—for Patriots fans, it’ll be a reminder of what could have been the perfect succession plan.
