Patriots Legend Offers Extended Thoughts On Bill Belichick’s Departure

Everyone has their speculation as to when Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots mutually decided to part ways.

Patriots legend Devin McCourty offered his thoughts on why the decision was ultimately made when he joined  98.5 The Sports Hub's “Felger and Mazz” on Radio Row in Las Vegas on Thursday.

"I just think time," McCourty said. "I think everyone wants (to point to) this game, like in Germany, this was final. I just think it was time. I think both sides were like, 'Hey, we want to have a change. This is something that isn't sustainable.'"

McCourty said he believed Belichick would have "definitely" gone back to the Patriots, but not with the way the team needed to change in order to succeed in the future.

"From being around Bill, I don't think there's any way he goes back to, 'Hey, you have to do things this way,'" McCourty said. "I don't think that's in his DNA for him to let someone else tell him how to run a football team. (…) I think for Bill, you do something a certain way for a long period of time, and you have unbelievable success; why would you ever (change)?"

The three-time Super Bowl champion added that in the NFL, when you don't win, things need to change, and Belichick used to coach his players on that aspect of the league as well.

"Bill used to tell guys, 'Hey, it sucks firing people. I've been fired. (...) I've been fired as a head coach. I've been fired as an assistant coach. I've done all that. I fully understand,'" McCourty said of his former coach. "And that to me is what happened (with Bill)."

McCourty said he couldn't offer insight as to how the Patriots went from being competitive all those years to the bottom echelon of the league.

"I don't know, that's why I left and retired. I got out of there," McCourty laughed. "I just think the year before, we went 8-9, but I thought we were a couple of games from only having four or five wins. (...) On the flip side, in all football games, we were a couple of wins away from having 12 wins. I just think that's how it goes.

"This year, this team, they were a couple of bad plays from having eight or nine wins, but they didn't go that way."

The Patriots ended the 2023 season as a 4-13 team. It was evident things needed to change, and Robert Kraft is "excited" for New England's new era to begin.