Did Bill Belichick Want To Leave Patriots? Seth Wickersham Offers Theory

Who wants to go back in time?

Remember the bombshell report from ESPN’s Seth Wickersham in January 2018 detailing a significant rift within the New England Patriots? Wickersham’s story, of course, went as far as to imply the season would be the last with the franchise’s three horsemen of owner Robert Kraft, head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Brady.

That was, you’ll again have to put your thinking hat on, about three months before the now 43-year-old signal-caller said he would ‘Plead the fifth’ when asked if he felt appreciated by Belichick and the organization.

Well, Wickersham was left addressing that years-old story Monday during an appearance on “The Harrison Vapnek Podcast.” And while the podcast itself may not be overly familiar, Wickersham’s appearance did feature an interesting nugget with regards to Belichick.

“Oh yeah, I mean there was a lot of pushback to that story,” Wickersham said. “But I felt comfortable about what I was writing and what I was working on. You know, I think that like, at the time, I think there was a sense of Brady wasn’t going anywhere. And had Bill left the impression that he might be open to a move?

“There were reports that came out at the time that the Giants were looking at him. I think he talked to the Redskins, the Washington Football Team, and the Dolphins about sort of their openings. It was unclear whether he was interested in not, but he was still talking to them. …”

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Wait a minute.

The Giants kicking the tires on Belichick, who does seem to have great respect for the New York organization, isn’t exactly needle-moving stuff.

But Belichick himself talking to the Dolphins and then-Redskins about their openings?

Sure, Belichick might like to live in Miami, but leaving the Patriots to go to a AFC East rival that wasn’t even close to as successful it is now is, at the very least, far-fetched. And the Redskins?! That organization, owned by Daniel Snyder, doesn’t even have a name right now and it still was worse off back then. Yeah, we can’t envision how that franchise would have interested Belichick at all.

And spoiler alert: The year is 2021 and Bill Belichick didn’t leave the New England Patriots.

Although Wickersham may have been on to something seeing how Brady left two offseasons later (and has sense won his first Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), we can’t possibly envision Belichick working for those specific organizations.

… But it seems like we’ll never know.