After the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick parted ways in January, the legendary NFL coach was linked to several teams before ultimately missing out on several open positions.
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan admitted he reached out to Belichick and tried to entice the six-time Super Bowl champion to join his staff when he appeared on “The TK Show” with The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami.
“I did. I threw it out to him. He loves football so much that you never know,” Shanahan told Kawakami. “I can’t believe he’s not a head coach of a team right now. I know what I would do if I was an owner so that shocks me. The last thing you want to do is insult someone like Bill Belichick.”
Shanahan continued: “But, I know he just loves ball in the simplest form. I threw it all out to him, like whatever he’d want to do. I was like, ‘Would you be interested?’ He was very nice and appreciative but politely turned me down.”
The Niners coach added that if Belichick had taken him up on his offer, it would probably have been shortlived.
“I’m sure he’s going to be back in the league next year. I could be going against him. He could be in the NFC West. It would have sucked if he came here, and then he was going against us. So that’s stuff you got to be careful about. He’s the best, and I just like talking to him.”
With the legendary coach available, any team that struggles during the 2024 season could consider replacing its current head coach with Belichick for 2025.
Shanahan went head-to-head against Belichick as the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI.
The Falcons held a 28-3 lead over the Patriots in the third quarter, but New England stormed back and won its fifth title 34-28 in overtime.
