NFL Odds: Examining Coach Of The Year Markets for Ex-Patriots
Who counts toward Bill Belichick's coaching tree?
There has been a great deal of (deserved) flak given to New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick for his coaching tree.
Though no one will argue that Belichick is one of the greatest coaches in NFL history, he hasn't been able to produce successful pupils to the same extent as his peers. Marty Schottenheimer, who never won a Super Bowl, gave legends like Bill Cowher and Tony Dungy their start. Andy Reid employed five current NFL head coaches at one point or another. Bill Parcells' tree, which includes Belichick, also put Sean Payton and Tom Coughlin onto the map.
That's a total of three Hall of Famers, with a few more certainly on their way.
The group of names that have earned head coaching gigs after working under Belichick leaves a lot to be desired. Matt Patricia, Joe Judge, Eric Mangini and Josh McDaniels all left New England to have varying levels of success stink.
Despite all of that, there are two former coaches and two former players to work under Belichick that currently have head coaching jobs. That's why we wanted to take a look at how they (and former Patriots head coach Pete Carroll) stack up to the 71-year-old when it comes to winning 2024 NFL Coach of the Year.
Here are the odds, courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook and BetMGM Sportsbook.
| NAME | FanDuel | BetMGM |
| Bill Belichick | +3000 | +3000 |
| Brian Daboll | +4000 | +3000 |
| Mike Vrabel | +3000 | +3000 |
| Kevin O'Connell | +3000 | +3500 |
| Josh McDaniels | +3000 | +3500 |
| Pete Carroll | +2000 | +2500 |
We won't spent too much time on Carroll, who is the favorite in this group but never overlapped with Belichick. It kind of defeats the whole purpose of this, you know?
The rest of the men on this list sit either in the middle or toward the bottom of the odds board, with Belichick actually sitting higher than anyone but Carroll. Brian Daboll (2023) and Mike Vrabel (2022) are the last two winners, which seems to have severely hindered their chances at winning it again. The NFL doesn't like giving the award away to the same coach multiple times, after all.
That leaves Kevin O'Connell and McDaniels, who somehow share the same odds. That doesn't make very much sense, as McDaniels' seat with the Las Vegas Raiders is mighty hot while O'Connell looks primed to lead the Minnesota Vikings to a second-straight NFC North championship.
If O'Connell is able to do that, he'd likely be one of the favorites to take home the award. The only other coach listed above that could rival him might be Belichick, as making a playoff appearance out of the AFC East after the Patriots' disastrous 2022 season would be a near miracle.
In short, it's probably not worth a Patriots-adjacent bet this time around.
