Patriots Great ‘Shocked’ Bill Belichick Still Available On Open Market

There has already been four NFL head coaching hires this offseason, including the New England Patriots handing the reins to Jerod Mayo.

But legendary coach Bill Belichick is still in search of a job.

It seemed like Belichick was on his way to being the next head coach of the Atlanta Falcons — the only team he’s been truly linked to — but that has “lost momentum.” Belichick, who had two interviews with Atlanta, may even have a possible rift with a Falcons executive halting his progress of landing that gig.

The way things have played out for Belichick on the open market certainly has stunned one of his former Patriots captains.

“I was kind of shocked that it was only one team that’s interested,” Devin McCourty told WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Wednesday. “I think when you step back, teams are probably looking for younger coaches it feels like. But I just thought the opportunity to have a guy like Coach Belichick, greatest of all-time.”

The Falcons have had an expansive coaching search, and that might be an understatement. Atlanta has interviewed 15 different coaches in an effort to fill its vacancy.

But the way the Falcons have gone about things, even giving Jim Harbaugh, who joined the Los Angeles Chargers on Wednesday, Ejiro Evero and Raheem Morris second interviews, has made McCourty scratch his head.

“It’s weird even seeing Atlanta’s thing,” McCourty said. “Because you have Bill and (Jim) Harbaugh came in for like second interviews. But then you had other guys still doing first interviews. So, it’s like, are they advancing with different candidates or still in the beginning process of this?

“And then it was also like how many times do you meet with Bill? Are you going over philosophy? What else is there to talk about? I think the whole coaching thing you just never know how it goes.”