Bill Belichick often has strong opinions about potential NFL rule changes. Apparently this year was no different.
Among the changes proposed by league owners at last week’s NFL Annual Meeting was the “Josh McDaniels rule,” which would allow teams to hire a head coach before the official end of that coach’s season. The theory behind this rule was to prevent what happened to the Indianapolis Colts, who reportedly had a deal with McDaniels but had to wait until after the Patriots’ Super Bowl loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, only to watch McDaniels have a change of heart following the game and opt to stay in New England.
The proposed rule met harsh resistance among NFL coaches, though — with Belichick serving as the “leader” to keep the “status quo,” a source told the MMQB’s Peter King.
Here’s what Belichick said about the rule, according to King’s source, who was in the room for the meeting:
“We work hard to get to the playoffs. We tell our fans we’re doing everything possible to win the biggest games of the year, and we do everything to eliminate distractions. And then, in the middle of that, we announce one of our coaches is now the new coach of another team? And he’s going to coach for us until the end of the year?’ ”
Belichick also pointed out that if this rule passed, you could have a coach employed by two teams at the same time.
“If you’ve been hired by one team, you’re continuing to coach your original team, and you talk to some of the assistant coaches you work with about joining your staff — shouldn’t that be tampering?,” Belichick said, according to King’s source.
You could argue Belichick is biased — the Patriots’ deep playoff run essentially bought the team extra time to convince McDaniels to stay — but his reasoning makes sense: Most clubs (especially New England) have their blinders on during the postseason and don’t want to be disrupted by sudden coaching changes.
King noted that nine of the 10 coaches who spoke at the meeting opposed the rule, so it sounds like Belichick will get his way.
