The Best of The Dan Patrick Show

On today's Dan Patrick Show, DP reacts to the major coaching changes over the last 24 hours. Former NFL Safety Rodney Harrison reflects on the career of his former Head Coach Bill Belichick. NFL Network's Tom Pelissero discusses the market for Pete Carroll. And CBS College Football Announcer Gary Danielson explains Nick Saban's decision to retire.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
I'm exhausted and we're just getting started, and we only
have three hours to fit everything in.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
Today.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
It's like you're on a roller coaster that doesn't allow
you to get off. Twenty four hours ago, Mike Vrabel
being fired by the Titans was a big deal. And
then all of a sudden, Seahawks politely move on from
Pete Carroll, and then Nick Saban abruptly retires at Alabama,
and then Bill Belichick and the Patriots decide to part ways.

(00:33):
Earlier this morning, they have a press conference. It will
be Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick at the podium together
at noon Eastern.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Welcome to the show.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
That was generational yesterday when you think about it, I
remember the first time I met Bill Belichick. He was
a defensive coordinator with the Giants. Now, Bill Parcells didn't
allow us assistant coaches to do interviews, but I did
produce myself to him.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
I was new to New York. I met him.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
I just introduced myself. I don't even know if he responded.
And then here we are today. Bill Belichick is out
as the Patriots head coach. I think he'll coach again
Nick Saban. Nick Saban, I've known for a long long time,
and yesterday didn't surprise me. But there's still that element
of shock that Nick Saban is not going to coach

(01:26):
any longer. Pete Carroll, one of the great college coaches
of all time and a couple of yards away from
joining a pretty elite group of head coaches to win
two Super Bowls, decides that he is going to part
ways with Seattle, at least as a head coach, maybe
staying on as a coordinator. And I gave you a
heads up from last week when I was talking to

(01:47):
somebody in Seattle and they said, hey, keep an eye
on the Pete Carroll situation here in Seattle. And I said, wait,
Seattle could move on from Pete Carroll, and I was
told yes, Now. Pete came out earlier this week and
said no, no, no, I got the energy. I'm going
to keep coaching. And then all of a sudden, yesterday happened.
Mike Vrabel. There was a little bit of surprise there,

(02:09):
because he's a coach that's going to be in demand.
Pete Carroll, I think wants to coach again. Bill Belichick's
going to coach again. I don't think Nick Saban is
going to coach again. Welcome to the show. Our one
Rodney Harrison, who is a Hall of Fame finalist. He
is a former Patriots defensive back. He's going to join
us coming up here at about fifteen minutes from now.

(02:31):
Also Gary Danielson, one of the great voices of the
SEC with CBS Sports, will join us a little bit
later on. And the great NFL Network reporter Tom pelsero
on sort of what has happened and how does this
change maybe teams that have a coach or they don't
have a coach, and now you have some openings and
you have even more candidates. So pretty crazy day. This

(02:54):
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(03:15):
news that is even larger than what happened with Saban
at Alabama or Belichick with the Patriots, Pete Carroll with Seattle.
But later on today at six Eastern in the newsletter,
you'll be able to find out how you can join
us at the super Bowl. The lead, Yes, this is it.
And I wanted to be fair to Belichick and Saban

(03:37):
and Pete Carroll, you know, out of respect, didn't want
to come in with a big hammer here.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
This is just too big it is. Can't hit it.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yes, If if Chefty you know, breaks into programming on
the Mothership and says this, then he got it from
me sources close to me. But on the newsletter, if
you're signed up at six Eastern when it comes out
and in your inbox, in your email, it'll tell you
how you can join us at the Super Bowl. Have tickets.
You'll be able to join us Monday through Friday, and

(04:07):
we'll give you the location as well. But you'll be
able to join us in the studio audience.

Speaker 3 (04:12):
All right, eight.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Seven seven three d P show, we say good morning.
If you're watching on Peacock Man, I got a lot
of energy today. I'm like Pete Carroll's gum. I mean,
I'm I'm fired up, ready to go. I'm gonna be
exhausted at the end of the day. You know, when
we get up in that age group at Belichick and
Saban and Pete Carroll. Are you know at the end
of the day, I'm tired, You're gonna have to take

(04:33):
a nap, yeah, Pauline.

Speaker 4 (04:35):
Pete Carroll doesn't speak at press conferences anything like Nick
Saban or Bill Belichick. Pete's like it's like as there's
a race going on, he's trying to hit as many
things as you can in ninety seconds.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yeah, yeah, he does.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
When he talks, he's gonna be better, Like he's got
a time limit that he's got to get it out right,
you know. Where's Belichick and Saban are a little bit
a little slower, more deliberate.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
Pete.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Pete's always do we have a little bit of Pete
Carroll from yesterday press conference.

Speaker 5 (05:04):
I competed pretty hard to be the coach, just so
you know, because I just wanted to make sure that
I stood up for all of our coaches and the
players and the things that we'd accomplished, not so that
we could be the coach still, but so that we
could continue to have a chance to be successful and
keep the organization going. That's what I was fighting for.
So in that regard, that was what I was representing
in our discussions and we got to a good part,
a good clean spot where it made sense, and you know,

(05:27):
I went along with it with their intentions.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
He was fighting to coach, to stay as the coach,
and that's one of those where and I've no information,
but ownership probably said no, we were moving on.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
Pete.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
You can stay in an advisory role, you know, stay
with the franchise as long as you want, but we're
going to move on. We're going to go in a
younger direction. Probably what happened with Bill Belichick. Belichick was
fighting to stay as the head coach so much so
he was going to relinquish power. So he was open
to that. That's why when you know they say it's
a mutual parting, well it's not a mutual parting. It's okay, Bill,

(06:06):
you need to be on board because we're going to
move in a different direction.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
All right. I guess that's a mutual parting. Then saban's surprise.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
I spoke to a source yesterday and I guess Nick
was interviewing coaches, wide receiver coaches, assistant coaches, somebody who
he was going to hire, and then all of a
sudden goes into a meeting. It says that he's retiring,
and then the speculation started that Dan landing at Oregon,

(06:37):
would they bring in a Dabbo?

Speaker 3 (06:38):
What about Lane Kiffin?

Speaker 2 (06:40):
I mean, there was just it exploded, and I'm going
to play an interview that I did with Nick Saban.
I think this is a year ago, maybe two years ago,
and we talked about retirement, and he gave me about
two minutes a two minute answer about retirement. So it
was sort of there. You just didn't know when it

(07:02):
was going to happen. And you know, saying with Belichick,
it wasn't a question of if or when more, it
was going to be when, not if, And Mike Reese
did a wonderful job breaking that story with Belichick and
the Patriots parting ways. But I figured that Bill was
not going to be back. The question is I thought

(07:22):
it might be Friday, thought it, you know, it'd be
tomorrow that they would have that announcement. But here it
is this morning, and Bill Belichick and the Patriots will
hold a press conference coming up at the top of
the top of noon noon Eastern, I believe. So we'll
have a poll question play at the day stat of
the day. All of that forthcoming and we'll try to
get in all of this and phone calls as well.

(07:44):
Operator Tyler's standing by. All right, seed, what's poll question today?
How about we start here? Who will have a better
season next year? Alabama, the Patriots or the Seahawks. I'm well, okay,
it's a sliding scale. We're looking too far ahead already.
No no, no, no, no, no no. But what is

(08:04):
a good season in Alabama? What's a good season in
New England? And what's a good season in Seattle? Because
I think those are three different answers, certainly two different answers. Alabama,
if they lose two games, probably didn't have a great season.
If New England makes the playoffs, they had a great season.

(08:25):
Seattle didn't make the playoffs this year. If they make
the playoffs next year, that would be a good year.
So I would say sliding scale. Alabama's expectations just a
little more heightened than the.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
Other ones, but slimmer margin. Yes, it is, yes, it is, okay,
all right?

Speaker 6 (08:42):
Who would you most want to have beers with? Bill Belichick,
Pete Carroll, Nick Saban? Okay, they're all good beer guys
in their own way. You walk into a bar, Dan,

(09:04):
there's three guys sitting at one corner, the one guys
at one corner, one guy's at the other corner, the
other guys in the middle.

Speaker 3 (09:09):
Who are you sitting next to?

Speaker 1 (09:10):
Dan?

Speaker 3 (09:11):
Okay, so Rabel is not in this. It's just that
those three.

Speaker 6 (09:15):
I mean, with all due respect to Mike Rabel, he's
not any of those three.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
He's not.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
No, but I might want to have a beer with
Rabel over everybody else I got.

Speaker 6 (09:23):
I don't know if the Titans are going to have
a better season than all three of those things, but
I don't really care either, not today.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
Um, I would probably want to have a beer with Saban.
I think I have a good relationship with him. I
think he's got a sneaky sense of humor, and I
think he would allow me a little latitude on questions
that I would ask him, because the first thing I
would say after maybe two beers, is what role did name, image,

(09:53):
and likeness play in you deciding you didn't want to coach?

Speaker 3 (09:56):
At Sure feels like.

Speaker 6 (09:57):
It's really tip the scale.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
I think you're going to see this. It's already happened,
you know. Coach k talked about it, Jay Wright talked
about it. The Great Villanova coach who decided to retire.
The landscape has changed because college football was about control.
These coaches had you for at least three years. You
weren't going anywhere. Now all of a sudden, where you go,

(10:22):
how long you stay, how much you make? Are you playing?
I'm not happy I'm transferring. That is going to probably
limit the coaching careers now, guys staying at one place
or even staying in the business for a long time,
because they do talk about how you get on the
practice field or get on the football field in a

(10:44):
game that's where you know, that's what you love. But
the other stuff that'll drive you out of the business.
And I think that that's what happened with Nick Saban.

Speaker 6 (10:54):
Because now we can't just bring in kids, promise them everything,
and replace them as we wish.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
Well, maybe we got a five star now and a
four star.

Speaker 6 (11:02):
We promised them that they were going to play, and
then now they're able to do what they want and
have more control over their lives.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
And I just can't coach that way. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
I mean that those aren't the exact words of Nick Saban,
but they could be maybe his feeling, maybe his feelings. Yeah,
name image and likeness and the transfer portal and the
what it's going to do to these coaches and how
long you stay because now going to the NFL, with
the uncertainty of the NFL, at least it's there's structure there.

(11:33):
You know, you're not recruiting. You know, you don't have
to worry about name, image and likeness.

Speaker 6 (11:39):
There's nobody decided to give these kids some control over
their lives.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
And now I just can't do this anymore. Once again,
that's good, that's good.

Speaker 7 (11:47):
Saving that is You've got to time it. It's a
rhythm right around here. Click bottle, you'll slide off. Get
the little Debbie's cakes, you get the diet coke.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
Yeah, you're right there.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
I feel like I'm trapped in a thirty for thirty
episode here, Yeah, I do. It's like, do you remember
that day when all of this happened, and you know,
all of a sudden, you're going, wow, it's like a
pinball machine.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
Here, Wait what just happened? Wait what just happened? Wait?
What just happened? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (12:24):
You know, we live with hyperbole. The newest thing is
always the best thing or the latest thing. But it's
really clear that you could say two of the five
greatest football coaches of all times are done in the
past twenty four hours. If I said top five of
all time football, I didn't say college or pro the Cup. Well,
it's clear that those two are in there, don't I
really don't even think there's much of a debate. You

(12:44):
could say, oh, there's Lombardi or Shula, Bear Brian blah
blah blah. You couldn't take these guys out of it.
It's almost that clear. That's how big it feels. One
more question for you, and we'll talk to a source.
Do you think Nick Saban made his decision in his
head or maybe thought about it and then went to
his wife and said I'm doing this and purposely went
in yesterday, told no one so no one could talk

(13:07):
him out of it.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
I don't know, because when I spoke to some as
soon as I heard the news, I called source of
mine and I said, what, no heads up? And he said,
we didn't get a heads up? And I go, really
goes no, he was interviewing candidates for wide receiver coach position.

(13:32):
But you know, and I first thing I asked was health.
That's what I want to know, I say, is this
health related and I was told as far as my
source the information he had, he said, no, he said,
I just think that he got tired and that his
last victory was against Georgia. They won the SEC title.

(13:52):
They were a couple of plays away from maybe playing
for the national championship, so going out on a high note. So,
you know, I you know, my source was trying to
just sort all of this out of how it happened,
when who knew, because he said probably the athletic director.
They knew, They knew for a little while to get

(14:16):
to this point, but that's where nobody else knew anything
about it.

Speaker 3 (14:22):
And the reporter for ESPN who broke the story, Mike Reese, No,
Chris Lowe.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, yeah, Chris low Yeah, congratulations to him breaking that story.
And then Mike Reese breaking the story with Bill Belichick.
But yeah, just trying to sort this out and understand.
I get the Belichick thing, but Saban, I just think
I think the other the ancillary things about college football
and being a coach probably drove him out of the game. Now,

(14:52):
I don't know how much longer he would have stayed.
But and also they they had it was like a factory.
You were getting these players. You didn't worry about anybody
out bidding you. Then all of a sortain you know,
all of us, a sudden, Georgia came out of nowhere,
and it's like, uh, Kirby smart knows what you do, Nick,

(15:13):
and he's going to do it and do it better
than you. When Saban spoke to the Boosters in Birmingham
and he was talking about we need to spend more
because A and M is buying all their players. Now,
he didn't mean to have it be translated the way

(15:33):
it came out that he's accusing A and M of
cheating or whatever. It was more of hey, in our
house here, we got to spend more. And that was
the first inkling that I had of Wow, all right, now,
all of a sudden, you can't just coach football, because
if he coaches football, he has no problems, just like Belichick.

(15:54):
But you know, Belichick wasn't getting players who's who wanted
to go to New England to play. Nobody did when
Brady was there. Because Brady's there, we can win a championship.
So you had a golden ticket. Bill doesn't have that anymore.
And Saban has Georgia right there, and they're not leaving
and they're out Alabama and Alabama, but he did beat them.

(16:20):
His last win was against Georgia for the SEC title.
And you beat Auburn previous game makes it easier, not bad,
all right. Rodney Harrison played for Bill Belichick. We'll get
his thoughts on his coach and the Patriots parting ways. Also,
Rodney is a finalist for the Hall of Fame as well,
so we'll talk to him coming up. Just getting started

(16:41):
back after this Dan Patrick.

Speaker 1 (16:42):
Show, be sure to catch the live edition of The
Dan Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio wapp.

Speaker 8 (16:53):
Hey, we're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern. But here's the thing, we
never have enough time to get to everything we want
to get to.

Speaker 9 (17:02):
And that's why we have a brand new podcast called
over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun in
our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
Yeah, you blubber list me.

Speaker 8 (17:16):
Well, you know what it's called over promise. You should
be good at it because you've been over promising women
for years.

Speaker 9 (17:21):
Well, it's a Covino and Rich after show, and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time, it will
continue on our after show called over Promised.

Speaker 8 (17:34):
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out over Promised and also Uncensored, by
the way, so maybe we'll go at it even a
little harder. It's gonna be the best after show podcast.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
Of all time.

Speaker 9 (17:45):
There you go, over Promising, and remember you could see
on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen Over Promised with
Cavino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
By the way, I got the odds from DraftKings where
Bill bell check will coach week one next season before
we get to Rodney Harrison best odds of where Bill
Belichick is coaching week one? Todd Carolina Panthers, seat O'Connor,
the Chargers. That would be correct right now. The overwhelming

(18:18):
favorite is the Chargers. Second on the list might surprise
you a little bit, Marvin the Falcon, Yes, good for you.
And then it's the Commanders. And then the next odds
are he is not the head coach of an NFL
team next season. Thank you, Ton, Rodney Harrison Hall of
Fame finalist. It's about time. Also Football Night in America

(18:41):
analyst and the NFL Wildcard coverage of the Dolphins and Chiefs.

Speaker 3 (18:46):
That'll be.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
It's streaming exclusively on our home Peacock. That'll be coming
up on Saturday night in Kansas City. So Rodney Harrison
joining us on the program. Rod your reaction to your
former coach no longer with the Patriots.

Speaker 10 (19:05):
Good morning, Dan, first and foremost, and to me, this
was expected. Even if he had a successful season in
New England. I expected him to move forward after this season.

Speaker 3 (19:18):
It's time.

Speaker 10 (19:19):
It's nothing else he can accomplish there. It's at a
point in time where I think he needs a new environment,
he needs a spark, he needs something totally different than
what he's had. I can say it as a player,
I played in San Diego for nine years and then
coming to New England gave me that spark, gave me
that kind of that new lease on life that I needed.

(19:40):
And you you know, I hear you talking about all
the different teams. I don't know if that Charger fit
would be a good fit. Yes, you have a good
quarterback in Justin Herbert. I was thinking more hardball with
the Chargers. I was thinking more Belichick with the Washington Commanders.
Atlanta would love him here. I live in Atlanta and
he would be an absolute p fit here because he

(20:01):
can bring that toughness, he can bring the ex'es and
O's version. They have some young talent out here in Atlanta.
Obviously they're gonna need a quarterback. But Coach Belichick was
so tremendous to me bringing me to New England, giving
me an opportunity, but not only me the underdog Dan.
You know, you think about Tom Brady being a sixth
round of Wes Welker, Julian Edelman, these type of guys

(20:24):
he brings in, he allows to play, and he develops
these players. And I tell you, I wouldn't be here
sitting in the media and really where I'm at in
my career if I didn't have an opportunity to play
for Coach Belichick because I learned so much from him.

Speaker 3 (20:38):
You remember your first experience with Belichick.

Speaker 10 (20:42):
I did, and we were sitting down just having a
conversation about football, and he told me, I remember when
you were in warm ups when we were playing you
guys in San Diego. You made a tackle in warm
ups and you knocked off one of your DB's helmets.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
And when he told me that, wait, you did that
in warm ups to your teammate.

Speaker 10 (21:03):
Yeah, it was an accident and I knocked his helpt
off and he remembered that. And when he told me that,
I looked at my agent and I said, hey, man,
let's get this deal done. This is where I need
to be. Denver had more money on the table for
me to go, but I wanted to play in New
England because I knew it was all football.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
There was there a difference of Belichick and practice and
Belichick in the game as far as his style demeanor.

Speaker 7 (21:30):
Not really.

Speaker 10 (21:31):
He was always as sarcastic. He's sarcastic when it came
to it. The thing about practice, we worked so hard.
Practice was almost like a game. So when we came
to game time, we didn't get nervous because the demands
were so high in practice, you know, and we worked
really hard. We study, but Belichick is a machine. You

(21:55):
get a guy like him, you're getting a coach that
knows x's and o's. He knows the game. You're gonna
always have a great defense. And somebody that's I believe
that can elevate the locker room, and somebody that I
think has grown to learn the locker room, learn the
you know, just learn these young people, because these young
players are different than a lot of the players that

(22:15):
he coached.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
But also he wasn't afraid a lot like Bill Parcells
that they would yell at the stars. Belichick would call
out anybody, including Brady.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (22:26):
Now, I think that was the thing that surprised me
most when I came. He's yelling at Tom Brady and
he's like, what the heck? How can you not complete
this five yard out? The guy at the Luth High
School can do that? And it was like Wow. So
when you yell at Brady, everybody gets you know, you
get everybody's attention. But I tell you, man, Bill, the
way people perceive him in the media, compared to the

(22:49):
man that he is, he is just he's the best.
I mean, you can have a conversation with him. He's smart,
he's funny, he's sarcastic. But the best thing about Bill
is he's all football. And if you're around him, if
you're learning from him, you're going to be smarter, You're
gonna be better, You're gonna be more prepared. And and
that's the staple of it. You look at all the

(23:09):
great players that he's coached, and how all of them
talk about Bill. You know, whether it's Gronk, whether it's
Tom Brady, myself, Willie McGinnis. I mean, we have just
such a respect for that man.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
He's Rodney Harrison, Football Night in America, analyst and Hall
of Fame finalist. Are you ready for this moment?

Speaker 11 (23:28):
Here?

Speaker 3 (23:30):
Good moment, the call like the knock on your door?

Speaker 10 (23:37):
Hey, Dan, you know what, that's not in my hands. Brother,
I did everything I could do for fifteen years. And
if it happens, I'm elated. I'm grateful. If it doesn't happen,
I'm elated. I'm grateful for all the supporting of people.
You never get here to this situation, a kid from Marca,
Illinois in the room for the Hall of Fame finalists

(23:57):
without so many people helping you, and so sacrifice and Dan,
so for me, I'm I'm I'm grateful just you know,
to be in this situation and if it happens, great,
If it doesn't, we'll see what happens in the future.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
Before I let you go the game that you guys
have Saturday night in Kansas City, it's going to be
really cold, and I'm wondering with that Miami team going
to Kansas City. Kansas City, it's still cold for them,
but you know, Miami, it is going to be a
shock to their systems. I'm sure as a defensive back
if you were going against Tyreek Hill or Jalen Waddle,
cold weather is their extra emphasis that you may have,

(24:33):
like how did you treat the Colts receivers when they
came to New England and that you know that kind.

Speaker 10 (24:38):
Of play as physical as possible, that's the number one thing.
Play as physical as possible. If you get a couple
holding calls or you know, you know, a legal contact,
big deal, make it as physical as possible. Jam them
off the line of scrimmage. When they catch the ball,
hit them, hit them, hit them, hit them two three
guys at a time.

Speaker 3 (24:57):
Try to rip the ball.

Speaker 10 (24:58):
Those guys are going to be I'm so concerned about
the cold, They're going to be distracted. The one way
they can come in and have a chance to win
is using that run game. They do a lot of
exotic things in a run game, but they're not going
to come out and pass the ball forty times against
the Kansas City Chiefs defense with Steve Spagnola a defensive
coordinator and beat these guys. They're gonna have to run
a football man.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
Great to talk to you is always thanks for your
thoughts on coach, and good luck this weekend.

Speaker 10 (25:25):
Thank you man, always good to see you.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
Dan. It's Rodney Harrison, won a couple of Super Bowls
with the Patriots, now a member of Football Night in America.
You got the wild Card weekend, and you've got NBC
Sports with three wild card games this weekend, including Brown's
Texans Saturday afternoon, Rams Lions Sunday night, and then you've
got the exclusive wild Card game on Peacock Dolphins Chiefs

(25:49):
that'll be Saturday evening. Yeah, Rodnie would tell me stories
all the time about Belichick, what he did, how he
did it, and the fact that he would yell at Tom.
He didn't care. He treated everybody the same. And this
is what Vince Lombardi. Did I remember when I talked
to Paul Horning one time. We were on the same

(26:11):
flight and he got you know, he was having a
couple of drinks and he was telling me stories about Lombardi,
and you know, he got around to the famous quote
that he treated us all the same, He treated us
like dogs. But the business acumen of those players who
played for him successful business people. Not only successful football players,

(26:34):
but the number of players who played for Lombardi who
talk about his discipline and how that made them great businessmen.
And you know, these players talk about Belichick that way,
having structure, having discipline, you know, playing within yourself, knowing
what your limits are. But Rodney brought up a great point.
Belichick might not be great at seeing true talent in

(26:57):
front of him, but he's great at seeing talent that
maybe that player doesn't even know he has. When you
say Julian Edelman or Wes Welker, you know, Gronk was
hurt in his final year in college, Troy Brown, Slater,
Kevin Falk, Julian Edelman, Brady James White. That's really part

(27:20):
of the genius of Belichick. I think of two things.
His ability to see something in somebody that they may not,
but his ability to adjust. And I go back when
he was the defensive coordinator with the Giants in the
Super Bowl against the Buffalo Bills, and I believe he
just put two defensive linemen in the game and then

(27:41):
everybody they basically said to Thurman Thomas, go ahead, you're
gonna have a good, good game. We're not letting Jim
Kelly beat us. And we thought, how crazy is this.
Therman Thomas was great, but they weren't letting Jim Kelly
beat them. And then they ended up winning in a
close game, a low scoring game. But I just thought,
oh my god, like just seeing it and saying, this

(28:04):
is what we're going to do, and that ability to
go out and from quarter to quarter, half to half
gained a game. There's no greater coach in football history
than Belichick ad doing that.

Speaker 4 (28:17):
Yeah, pullint, I love that Rodney story. I hadn't heard
that one before that. Rodney when he was a Charger,
cracked a teammate in a pregame and Belichick noticed it
and liked it, not like oh that guy's a cheap shot,
He's like, I need a guy like that.

Speaker 2 (28:29):
But Rodney also talked about. I think in that same
game he was on the kickoff team. He hit somebody
so hard he knocked himself out, and he goes, that
was the only way I knew how to play. Fast
forward to when he went to New England. They were
a physical secondary. This is before the Legion of Boom.

(28:49):
You had that secondary there, ty law Lawyer malloy. They
were physical and won that Super Bowl when they were
more physical with the Rams wide receivers. Greatest show on turf.
That's nice, but we're going to hit you and hold
you as much as we can. And that's the reason
why they won that first Super Bowl when they beat
the Rams, that that defense and that secondary, because you thought,

(29:14):
all of that speed, how are they going to be
able to keep up?

Speaker 3 (29:17):
And they did, and they.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
Would beat the Colts because they were always going to
be physical. They were always going to be physical with
Marvin Harrison, they were going to make him pay. And
you know, Belichick, he's always going to be a little
more prepared than you are.

Speaker 3 (29:35):
Always, yes, Mark.

Speaker 10 (29:37):
Even with the Malcolm Butler play, Belichick told him what
to do right like that is genius right there.

Speaker 2 (29:42):
When Butler told us after the Super Bowl that on
Wednesday of Super Bowl week, they were practicing and Malcolm
got there late on a play that you know, the
the offense was running, and Bill said, you sprint if
you see that, you sprint for the ball. And if

(30:03):
you see what you know Malcolm Butler did. He didn't
care about, you know, hitting a receiver. He was going
for the ball and being behind the play underneath the goalpost.
That night, I thought that maybe he just caused an incompletion.
I had no idea that he came up came up
with the ball. They stole a Super Bowl because of that.

(30:25):
But you know the fact that Bill sees it and
says it to you on Wednesday, Hey, if this happens,
you get there, you go right to the ball, get
to this spot. Yes, I mean that's that's remarkable. Stuff
really is. All right, we'll get some phone calls here,
pull question seat in which one did we go with?

Speaker 6 (30:47):
Well, we have another one we could go with too.
This is a little bit of a callback, but harder
to replace. Mike Vrabel, Bill.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
Ak snarky. How about we change this one up, Sue?

Speaker 6 (30:58):
Yes, who will name the playoffs next year? Alabama, New England, Seattle.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
Well, I'll say I'm trying to level it.

Speaker 6 (31:10):
That was a suggestion by somebody on Twitter to fix
the original poll question was who has a better season
who makes the playoffs?

Speaker 2 (31:16):
Well, I would say Alabama because twelve teams will make
the playoffs. I would say they have a better chance.

Speaker 3 (31:23):
New England.

Speaker 2 (31:26):
They got to get a quarterback and a few other
things there as well. And depends on where Bill goes.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
I could be weird to see Bill in sunshine. I'm
so used to tuning into a Patriot game and he's
there with you know, his hoodie covered up. It's bad weather,
rainy or snowing, and you're going to see him out
there in the sunshine. You know, he's gonna have a tan,
gonna have sunglasses on.

Speaker 12 (31:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (32:00):
You store coach in the CFL, you know, like Saskatchewan
or something, Edmonton, get him up there.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
Yeah, So DraftKings odds. The best place for Bill to
be coaching week one next season is the Chargers, followed
by the Falcons, then the Commanders been not a head
coach of any NFL team, then it's the Panthers and
the rest of the field. Now there's other teams that
are in here. The Titans. They got the Giants, the Saints,

(32:30):
and the Jets long odds, but for Bill Belichick. Also,
after Nick Saban's announcement, Alabama went from plus six hundred
to win the national title to plus eight hundred. Not
sure who they're going to target here, but you know,
it felt like it was Dan Landing at Oregon because

(32:54):
you know he's been there before coaching.

Speaker 3 (32:57):
Lane Kiffen has been there.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
Dabo Sweeney maybe, but I think Dabo has cooled off considerably.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
I don't think that they would entertain Lane Kiffin.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
They might entertain him Sark Texas has got so much money,
and you got arch Manning in the on deck circle there.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
I mean, that's.

Speaker 2 (33:23):
Tough to go in there and follow him, going in
to follow Belichick. If Girod Mayo, the former Patriot who's
on the staff, former Patriot player, if he got the job,
I mean, that might be the best direction because then
it's our guy and let's support him, not somebody coming in.
Mike Grabel would be a wonderful choice. But if you

(33:45):
don't get him, Girod Mayo, promote from within. That might
be the direction. Because the pressure, the pressure to follow Saban,
it's just bigger. It's bigger than following Belichick in my opinion,
because Belichick hasn't.

Speaker 3 (34:02):
Done much the last four years.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
When you follow Bear Bryant, when you follow John Wooden,
when you follow adof Up, you always want to be
the guy who follows the guy who followed the guy.
But you know, trying to replace Saban where they expect
you to compete for a national championship. You go to
New England. Hey, let's try to make the playoffs here.
That's where the bar is right now, All right, let

(34:26):
me take a break. Got our play of the day
coming up. More phone calls as well. Top of the hour,
Gary Danielson, the longtime voice of the SEC. He'll join
us as well. Back after this.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live. Hey, it's hour two on this Thursday. Once again,
it feels like I'm trapped in a thirty for thirty.
Everything that happened yesterday, last night, and now this morning,

(35:00):
Bill Belichick and the Patriots parting ways. They'll have a
press conference with Belichick and Robert Kraft coming up at
noon Eastern.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
Nick Saban yesterday. Also Pete Carroll yesterday. I thought Mike
Rabel and the Titans parting ways was a big deal.
That was That was just the appetizer here. Now we
got to an entree, and then another entree and another entree.
Welcome to the program. We say good morning. If you're
watching on Peacock. It's our streaming partner, our radio affiliates

(35:31):
around the country, iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio, nearly four hundred
cities carrying the program. Phone calls will get to those
coming up. A lot of people have a lot of
thoughts on everything that happened yesterday and so far today
eight seven to seven three DP show Seaton Poll question
from hour one and then.

Speaker 3 (35:49):
What are we gonna go with an hour two?

Speaker 11 (35:53):
Dan?

Speaker 3 (35:53):
Hour one? We put up there.

Speaker 6 (35:57):
We have who we'll have a better season next year? Alabama,
the Patriots or the Seahawks. Sixty seven percent of the
audience say Alabama, followed by the Seahawks.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
Oh, not a lot of the Patriots rebounding next year?
New coach bump. Okay, that's not great. What are we
gonna go with the hour two?

Speaker 6 (36:17):
We're gonna throw up there harder to replace Bill Belichick
or Nick Staban. Is that too much of a landslide
for Nick Saban?

Speaker 3 (36:27):
I would think so, yeah, I would think, so, all right,
we'll go back to who do we want to have
it here?

Speaker 6 (36:32):
With the Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll or Nick sabd That one's.

Speaker 3 (36:35):
Probably a lot closer.

Speaker 11 (36:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
I like that one, you know, because people think I
get a couple of beers in Bill and maybe he's
gonna open up a little bit start dishing on some things.

Speaker 3 (36:46):
Pete.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
I think, yeah, Pete would be fun, but I think
Nick Saban might be sneaky great with something like that.
All Right, let's see, we'll get phone calls. Gary Danielson.
Gary Danielson is called over five one hundred college games,
including one hundred of Nick Sabins. He'll join us, the
longtime voice of the SEC on CBS, former quarterback in

(37:10):
the NFL. He'll join us coming up. Also, Tom Pelsero,
the insider for NFL Network. Sort of the coaching carousel
got stopped and then spun in a different direction.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
With Mike Rabel now available.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
Pete Carroll I think still wants to coach the Chicago Bears.
Situation is really interesting to me for a couple of reasons.
You have Matt Eberflus who had to fire his quarterbacks
coach and offensive coordinator. Okay, if you're going to do that,
what coach is going to want to come in as

(37:44):
your offensive coordinator knowing that you might be fired the
following year. Therefore, you're going in there and then you
may be shown the door because the coaching staff would
be fired unless you are going to have Matt Eberflus.
You're going to bring in a new offen coordinator and
a new quarterbacks coach because you're taking Caleb Williams. And

(38:06):
if I'm Matt Eberflus, if I can hold on and
get another couple of years here and now I have
a different quarterback. But you have to extend Matt Eberflus.
You have to give him a contract extension because if not,
he's he's going to be a lane duck coach and
you're going to bring in a coaching staff or at
least offensive coordinator. Why would I take that job if

(38:28):
I'm not even sure if the coach is going to
be there, and if you're going to bring in Caleb Williams,
Because if you don't, and now you're bringing in another
offensive coordinator quarterbacks coach for Justin Fields, and that's not
fair to him. And this is the first time I thought, Okay,
maybe they are moving off Justin Fields and they are

(38:49):
going to take Caleb Williams or Drake May, but they're
going to take a quarterback because I have to extend
the coach and then I have to bring in an
offensive coordinator and a quarterbacks coach coach and have those contracts.
You know, let's sync up there, or why would you
take the job. That coach is going to be a
lame duck coach. So I'm expecting the Bears, if they're

(39:12):
not moving on from him, that they're going to extend him,
and that the Bears were probably going to move on
from Justin Fields. And I didn't get that feeling a
week ago, but I did yesterday.

Speaker 3 (39:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
Kind of interesting. All right, So we have our poll
question and we'll get to phone calls. Good morning once again,
watching on Peacock. Sign up for the newsletter. If you
are interested in joining us at the Super Bowl in
Las Vegas, please do Yeah. All you have to do
is go to the newsletter and have all the information
tonight at sixth Eastern and we'll let you know how
you can join us in Las Vegas. Gary Danielson on

(39:47):
the golf course, and we appreciate him taking time out
from his great golf game. I'm sure what hole are
you on?

Speaker 12 (39:55):
Gary?

Speaker 11 (39:56):
Yes?

Speaker 12 (39:57):
Dan back.

Speaker 11 (39:58):
Really, I'm not to be acurate, I'm not taking time out.
I'm actually doing playing. But when we are on thirteen,
we usually start about seven thirty and we play really fast.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
Okay, how surprised were you with the Nick Saban news.

Speaker 11 (40:12):
Well, college football is different. You know, you cannot give
anybody any heads up about what's going on. If you
even hint that you know you might have one two
years left and you're thinking about it, you'll get killed
in recruiting. So I knew whenever Nick decided to do it,
it would be a surprise or very few people would

(40:34):
know about it. I don't even think a staff will
about it. So it was going to be one of
those days and two or three o'clock there was just
going to be an announcement and then it was going
to happen, and I think it was going to happen. Now, No,
didn't didn't realize that there is a bit of a transition,
I think for his football team. I think he was
really proud of the way this last team played and

(40:56):
the job he did, So, you know, I guess it
kind of makes sense. I think I think he and
Bill and Nick are all the same age. They're seventy
two years old.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
Yeah, but it feels like Pete Carroll still wants to coach,
Belichick still wants to coach. I think I think college football,
today's college football probably sped up the retirement for Nick Saban.
I think nil and transfer portal now, all of a sudden,
college football you have less control than you do as
an NFL head coach.

Speaker 11 (41:30):
I think that's a good observation. I think, you know,
the way that Nick has always built his program is
obviously recruited great players. I think he was one of
the you know, the people that really saw the future,
even when he was at Michigan State. When he took
the job at LSU, he realized he had to be
at a place to recruit the best to win. So

(41:50):
I think as he's looked now at his age, is
a little more frustrating for these coaches. I can see that,
you know, it's it's sure is different. I've heard stories
now coaches and when you walk into a recruits room,
before you say anything about what type of offense you're playing,
they want to know, let's get right down to it,
how much am I going to get? And I think

(42:13):
nil really doesn't explain the process. I don't think it's nil.
I actually think it's paid to play.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
The importance of Saban to the success of the SEC.

Speaker 3 (42:26):
How do you quantify that?

Speaker 11 (42:28):
I think it's immeasurable. The fact that he left Michigan
State and went to LSU. I think he saw kind
of the future. I think the demographics of the Midwest changed.
I think Nick was a bit frustrated that and he
realized to be at the right school in a state
where he could control recruiting. You know the way Ohio

(42:50):
State and coach at Ohio State he was at Michigan State.
You know, it's an interesting job Michigan State. You're right
there in the middle of the state and the players
are south of you. And three of the most famous
schools in college football are just south of you, Notre Dame,
Michigan and Ohio State. So and everybody was shocked. But
I think Nick Saban's he saw the feature he went

(43:12):
to Michigan State. I think he got a couple of
breaks in his career though, well one his staff did
not go to Michigan State, and I think he used
that very widely to hire you know, the Will Musk
Champs and the Jimbo Fishers, you know, really hungry, good
young coaches that recruited well. And and the other break
I think was, you know, I don't know how his

(43:33):
NFL career were to gone, but I don't know if
he goes to Alabama, if Drew Brees goes to Miami Dolphins.
So you know, these things work out. But Nick is
very driven. I mean, I've done five hundred televised games,
and I think a hundred of them have been with
Nick Saban and I personally, you know, I prepare for

(43:53):
the meetings, I go to practice. I think if he
does not respect that you're prepared and understand at least
he doesn't expect you to know everything, but he expects
you to work hard for the game, just like he
expects his entire organization to work hard. And I think
he's got I think he understands athletes too. You know,

(44:13):
they want a coach that can help him win, and
they want a coach that can help them get to
the next level, whether it's a high school coach, a
college coach, or obviously in the pros. They want to
get the next level is to make more money.

Speaker 2 (44:24):
Yeah, and I saw sort of a parallel with what
John Calipari's tried to do at Kentucky, that he's preparing
you for that next job going into the NBA. He
just hasn't been as successful as Nick Saban. But Saban
could keep a lot of those players for three years,
maybe four years. Then an il transfer portal kind of
happened upon us. When you're in the production meeting with Saban,

(44:45):
how much would he share with you?

Speaker 11 (44:49):
I never asked him to share any strategy. I just
don't feel that that is a fair question to ask
a coach. I really never wanted to know a what's
your trick plays or anything like that. I more I
would let him know that I've watched the tape, not
by telling him, but on my questions. I would ask

(45:10):
him pointed questions about things that happened last game, things
that I've seen the other team do, what changes, or
what players he feels need to play better. Nick was
never Nick was very good to us. You know, he
liked Vern a lot. You know, I did ninety SEC

(45:31):
games with Nick Saber and you know, most of those
obviously the last five years with brad Nessler, a lot
of them with Vern. He likes both of them, so
he likes to talk. But you never really got at
least I didn't.

Speaker 5 (45:46):
You know.

Speaker 11 (45:46):
Maybe he was different with Todd or Kirk, but with me,
I never I just didn't feel that that was me
to go. You know, what's your trick plays this week?
It's just not how I approached it. I think you
had to read between the lines of what he was
saying and how excited he was about his team, and
that worked best for me.

Speaker 3 (46:05):
Who would you recommend to replace Nick Satan.

Speaker 12 (46:13):
Well?

Speaker 11 (46:15):
I think the names that are out there are all
good names, you know. I mean, uh, you know, Dan
Lanning would be a really good normal would be a
really good choice. I mean obviously, you know there's the
connections with Lane. Those all make sense to me.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
Uh.

Speaker 11 (46:33):
You know, the person that has to have a really
strong personality to go in there, because obviously they're following,
you know, the greatest effort. Uh, It's not an easy
job for anybody, because you know this, the measurements at
Ohio State are you know, when we're talking about it's
win them all, win them all, it's not a great year.

(46:54):
So you know, that's That's one of the things I
really talked about a lot when I did all of they
have the games for all those years. Not only did
they have really good players, not all obviously they were
well coached, but they were clutch. They played clutch football
with the pressure on. They won a lot of games

(47:15):
when there were a lot of things going against them,
big LSU games.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
You know.

Speaker 11 (47:19):
The only really lost I think one SEC championship game
and that was the Florida But I always gave him
a lot of credit. You know, he always talked to
his players. You know, he's an next quarterback. He always
talked to his players that, you know, we got to
be disciplined, but you gotta let it go, you gotta
you know, And I think they bought into that. And
I was always when I watched them play, I really

(47:41):
thought it's demanding. As Nick was at practice, I think
he was of course he was fiery out the sidelines,
but I think he was understanding that in the game,
you got to play a little bit loose. Disciplined, yes,
but a little bit loose, if that makes any sense.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
Always great to talk to you. Back to your golf game.
Thanks for joining us, Gary.

Speaker 11 (48:03):
Appreciate it. Dan, I'm thirteenth old. I've already hit two.
All of us been talking to you nice and smooth.
Appreciate it. Thanks for calling.

Speaker 3 (48:12):
Thanks buddy.

Speaker 2 (48:12):
That's Gary Daniels in a long time voice analyst sec
on CBS. A couple of phone calls in here. Dean
in Dallas, Hi Dean, what's on your mind today? Hey Dean,
Thanks Dean.

Speaker 3 (48:30):
Doug in North Carolina, Hi Doug, what's on your mind?

Speaker 13 (48:34):
Well, Dan, I'm having a battle between my inner child
and my educated adult that I've become in front of me.
I have the numbers for Bear Bryant and Nick Saban.
Gary Daniel Danielson just called Saban the best ever. Both
of these guys won six national championships with Alabama. Bear
was there longer, obviously, but Nick has a better winning percentage.

(48:56):
So my question is who's the best in Alabama history?

Speaker 2 (49:00):
Would say Nick Saban because Bar Bryant did most of
had most of his success without integration. I think when
USC played Alabama and Bear Bryant saw what Sam Dabam
Cunningham was doing for USC. He decided that he was
going to recruit African Americans, and so I would say

(49:20):
that that has to play a little bit of a
role like eight Off Rupp as well at Kentucky. But
I would say Nick Saban to do what he's doing today.
You know, it's like John Wooden. John wouldn't wouldn't be
John Wooden today. He's still a great coach, but he
wouldn't have ten titles in twelve years. Red Arbach wouldn't

(49:45):
have that with the Boston Celtics. It just but they
did it when they did it against the competition that
you know they were playing.

Speaker 3 (49:52):
But you know things have changed.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
More teams, better teams, better athletes, better coaches, and more money.
Let's see what else do we have here, Jesse and Colorado. Hey, Jess,
what's on your mind today?

Speaker 11 (50:09):
Uh?

Speaker 14 (50:09):
Yeah, I had a question for you guys. Thanks for
taking my call. But I know his previous stints as
a head coach weren't the greatest, But what are the
chances of McDaniel's taking over for the Patriots job.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
I don't think he's a head coach. I mean, I've
said that before, Jesse. I just there are certain guys
who were great at being a coordinator, and I think
Josh McDaniels is one of those guys.

Speaker 3 (50:36):
Being a head coach is just different.

Speaker 2 (50:38):
You got to be all things to all people, and
you can't just be this is my little group here.
And we've seen that with Belichick's coaching tree. He had
a lot of guys who were really good at one thing,
but being a head coach it is difficult. Bill Belichick's
personality is that of a defensive coordinator, not as a

(51:01):
head coach. But he gets away with it. He got
away with it because they were successful. But I don't
I mean, maybe they hire Josh McDaniels.

Speaker 3 (51:12):
I don't know. That wouldn't be my choice.

Speaker 2 (51:15):
Mike Rabel would be my choice, or Drowed Mayo if
you want to promote from within. This guy coming up next,
Tom Pelsaro the NFL Network will join us. He'll have
some thoughts on that. And what's this mean for the
coaching carousel that Rabel's now available and Pete Carroll is available.
I don't know how many teams are gonna like if

(51:36):
you're in a rebuild and Pete Carroll at seventy two.
I just don't know if teams are going to do that,
but we'll talk to Tom and get his thoughts on that.

Speaker 3 (51:45):
Coming up next, Dan Patrick Show.

Speaker 1 (51:48):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio wapp.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
All right, we'll talk to Tom Pelsaro, NFL network insider,
get his thoughts on this coaching carousel that got a
couple of new participants yesterday with Bill Belichick we expected
and Pete Carroll was a little bit of a surprise.
Mike Rabel maybe a little bit of a surprise as well.
But we'll talk to Tom coming up here in a moment.

(52:18):
Let me get another phone call in here Billy and Nashville.

Speaker 12 (52:22):
Hi, Billy, Hey, Dan, Hey, guys, how's it going great?
I know Belichick wants to coach, and he'll be good
anywhere he goes. But this is a chance for the
NFL to fix their coaching problem. I'm sorry, they're officiating problem,
because who better than Bill Belichick who become the guy
who trains and certifies NFL officiating.

Speaker 2 (52:40):
Cruisey that sounds like a miserable job. Though Billy Belichick
still wants to coach. He wants to surpass Don Shule's
all time record. The question is, and according to DraftKings,
the best odds right now, the top odds for where
Bill Belichick will coach Week one the LA Chargers. Man,

(53:01):
I just don't see it. It just feels like that's
Harbaugh going back West Coast. Then it's the Falcons. I
don't even know if I see that Commanders. And then
the fourth best odds are not a head coach of
any NFL team?

Speaker 4 (53:18):
Yeah, Paul, Could the Falcons bring in the guy who did.

Speaker 3 (53:21):
What he did to I know that's what I was thinking.

Speaker 4 (53:24):
I'm not going to say the phrase.

Speaker 3 (53:25):
Twenty eighty three.

Speaker 2 (53:28):
Tom Pelsero, NFL Network insider, he's been busy. You can,
by the way, you can see the Dolphins chief Saturday
at eight eastern exclusively on Peacock as we make way
for Tom. All right, let's start with Belichick here. He
does want to coach. Where do you think is the

(53:48):
best fit for Bill Belichick?

Speaker 15 (53:51):
I would tell you this, Dan, with Bill Belichick, he's
been aware for months that potentially things would be coming
to an end in new way, and so without you know,
making a lot of direct contact teams, he's back channeled
things and gotten a pretty good understanding of, you know,
what potentially his options might be. I would tell you

(54:13):
there's been a lot of discussion about the Atlanta Falcons.
I would say that is one possibility. But there are
also possibilities that there are teams that maybe are still
in the playoffs, teams that do employ head coaches, maybe
teams that weren't thinking about making a change, but for
the availability of arguably the greatest coach in NFL history

(54:35):
suddenly coming to the forefront here. In other words, if
you're any team that feels like, you know, we've got
a good coach, but we may not have a great coach,
why would you not have a conversation right now about
Bill Belichick. You know, there's delicate pieces of this. There
are rules regarding interview processes and whatnot. I think that
for Bill Belichick, it always made sense. Even though we're

(54:57):
going to get a press conference today and and has
been finalized to Bill Belichick and the Patriots or parting ways,
it has always made sense for Bill Belichick to wait
and see what happens in the first, maybe even the
second round of the playoffs and see maybe where there's
some other teams that are a little further along that
may not be as much of a build for him,
that might end up potentially becoming options.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
Okay, are we hinting at the Cowboys here, Tom.

Speaker 15 (55:22):
We're hinting at any team that might believe after you
get into the playoffs here that maybe you could upgrade
of going to Bill Belichick. Listen, It's got to be
a pretty specific type of team, right, and that's on
multiple fronts. Bill Belichick is not going to take over
a total rebuild. He's seventy two years old. As much
as he's done that in a place like New England

(55:43):
that was a quarter century ago, Bill Belichick is not
sitting there going all right, I got five years to
build something elsewhere. If he's going to go, he's got
to think we've got enough pieces on the roster that
I can get this thing rolling and get it rolling quickly.
It's also got to be the right ownership, the right structure.
If you've got a team that has a hyper involved owner,
or you've got a team that is going to put

(56:05):
in place layers of other people above Bill, people that
can tell Bill how to do his job. That's not
really going to be a fit for him either. For instance,
I know that there's been a lot of rumors and
speculation about the Washington Commanders. I do not see that
being a fit for Bill Belichick. For all the reasons
I just mentioned. They're going to hire a president of
football operations. They do have a little bit further to

(56:26):
go on the roster, even though they got a lot
of capital to do it. In place like Atlanta that's
got a much improved defense that's invested on that side
of the ball, that does have players at the skill spots,
they still need a quarterback that's a lot further along here.
And again, there's some places right now that have head
coaches in place that may be based upon upcoming results

(56:47):
or maybe how the season ended, might be willing to
make a change, but only if they can get a
guy like a Bill Belichick and take your shot for
the next two three years, whatever that timeline might be.

Speaker 3 (56:57):
What did the Patriots do.

Speaker 15 (57:00):
The Patriots, I would anticipate running a very targeted search.
They're not going to just put out ten to twelve
requests for all these different people. They're gonna start by
looking within the family. So who is that you got
your od Mayo, who's an in house option on the
coaching staff. I would certainly not say that by any
stretch that's a slam donc that Girod Mayo gets that job.

(57:21):
There's other coaches out there, Mike Vrabel being chief among them.
I mean, a couple of months ago, he's sitting in
Robert Kraft's suite and saying, we got a game to
win today and maybe taking a veiled shot at his
current employer at the time by saying, Hey, fans, enjoy
this because it's not like this everywhere. Mike Vrabel has
a long history in that organization, including being a player there.

(57:42):
It certainly is a consideration. So it would be a
Brian Flores, who's now the Vikings defensive coordinator. He won
a Super Bowl with Bill Belichick as the DC in
New England. I think that you're going to look at
all those types of guys because they know how that
building functions. Dan, that's New England is not like any
place else because of the un lateral power that Bill
Belichick has had for so long in that building. They're

(58:05):
gonna need a general manager too. They're gonna need to
build out their operational staff. They're gonna be need to
build out a lot of different things because there's nobody,
even the guys who have been there before, that are
going to take on as much as Bill Belichick did.
And I think that when you trace through why ultimately
here Bill Belichick and Robert Craft are going separate directions.
It's not simply four and thirteen this season. It's about

(58:28):
how certain things have eroded over the course of time
in New England. When you look at their coaching staff,
when you look at the front office staff, they've got
good people on both fronts, but it's not the same people.
Look at how many people have gotten head coaching jobs
or GM jobs and have left, you know, the basically
a brain drain that they've had over the course of

(58:48):
time here. There are a lot of discussions among Bill
Belichick and Robert Craft, especially on Monday. They meant for
hours on that day talk through every scenario, including scenarios
where Bill Belichick would come back. But Belichick said it
himself when he met with reporters Monday morning, we got
to get some things fixed. Robert Craft had his ideas
of how you're going to fix that. Bill Belichick had
his own ideas on how to fix that. You have

(59:10):
seen an erosion of Bill Belichick's authority to a certain
degree in recent years, versus last year when Robert Craft
put out a rare press release saying, Hey, we're going
to keep grodd mail, We're bringing in Bill Bill O'Brien
as the offensive coordinator. New England has never done things
like that, and so for Belichick, he was going to
want to make certain changes in terms of the people
as much as anything. So is Robert Craft. They weren't

(59:33):
quite on the same page. Everybody's going to go their
own directions.

Speaker 2 (59:36):
Tom Pelsaro, NFL Network insider Jim Harbaugh, how close do
you think this is to a real possibility that he
goes to the NFL.

Speaker 15 (59:48):
I believe it's a real possibility, Dan, and I believe
it's been a real possibility in Jim Harbaugh's mind for
a couple of years now. You know, you trace it
back to two years ago when he interviewed in person
with the Vikings on National Signing. That's how serious Jim
Harbaugh was about the possibility of going to the NFL.
Was that partly to tweak an administration that had just
forced him to take a pay cut the year before

(01:00:10):
coming off COVID. Who's the set. But he was very
serious about that job, to the point that he did
a zoom with the Vikings and then when in in
person and did, like I want to say, it was
a seven hour interview with them. They ultimately, based on
the results of the interviews as well as just kind
of the fit, they decided to go with Kevin O'Connell.
That's been a really good hire for them. Last year
with Denver. Harbaugh did a zoom with the Broncos. They

(01:00:32):
wanted to get him in for an in person interview.
And this is not a direct quote from Harbaugh, but
the sense on his end was, I'm Jim Harbaugh. How
many interviews do I have to do? You know exactly
who I am as a coach. Just hire me if
you want to. The Penners actually flew and visited Harbaugh
in Ann Arbor to try to get him to reconsider
that one just didn't line up this time around. Harbaugh.

(01:00:54):
I can tell you this. Dan has been refreshing his
staff lists, He's had conversations with people, He's been a
valuation the openings. He also coming off of the greatest
feet of his coaching career when in a national title
at his alma mater. He heads in the clouds still
a little bit here. Over the last couple of days,
I would anticipate we will find out fairly soon how

(01:01:14):
serious Jim Harbaugh is and whether there's a place that's
lined up for him to go in the NFL. It's
a lot like I talked about Bill Belichick and how
you need to have the personnel and the structure of
the organization line up for him to want to take
that job. It's a similar type of thing with Jim Harbaugh.
Everybody's going to draw the arrows to the LA Chargers.
They absolutely are exploring this, and from Harbaugh's perspective, there's

(01:01:39):
a lot to like, and it begins with Justin Herbert.
The Chargers also are a family owned and run business.
John Spanos oversees the football operation another one of Dean
Spanus's suns oversees the business operation. Is that going to
be a fit for what they want to do and
what Jim Harbaugh wants to do. There's some fascinating discussions
to be had if they go down that path. The

(01:02:00):
Raiders makes a lot of sense to with Jim Harbaugh
and Mark Davis be a fit. We'll see. There's other
jobs out there that potentially Harbaugh could be connected to
as well. But for me, I would say, if Jim
Harbaugh is going to take one of these things in
this cycle, La and Las Vegas would be the two
to watch.

Speaker 2 (01:02:15):
The Seattle opening, How attractive is that and who do
you think they're going to target.

Speaker 15 (01:02:22):
I believe it's a really attractive job opening in Seattle
because they've gotten so much younger. They really flipped that
thing over the last few years.

Speaker 12 (01:02:28):
Here.

Speaker 15 (01:02:29):
You look at the talent that they've amassed, at the
skill spots, the young talent that they've masked on defense.
Dan they went into last season making moves like they
thought they could win a Super Bowl right now. They
brought back Bobby Wagner and paid him a bunch of money.
They made a trade deadline trade for Leonard Williams, which
gave up future draft picks. You don't do that if
you're not expecting, hey, we're in it to win it

(01:02:51):
right now. They end up nine to eight, they missed
the playoffs. I think it's fair to say they felt
like this was a team that underachieved to a certain degree.
Fourteen years is a long time for anybody to have
one job in the NFL. Pete Carroll said yesterday he
thought he, as Pete always says, he competed to be
the coach, but Jody Allen, the Seahawks chair, her mind

(01:03:11):
was made up based on the total evaluation here. They're
gonna look. I think it's an oversimplification to say, well,
dan Quinn's just going to come in. He's been there before.
Dan Quinn's gonna have other options. He's a real candidate
in Tennessee, He's a real candidate in a place like Washington.
He's got slips from a couple of other teams as well.
Dan Quinn potentially is going to have options here once

(01:03:34):
we get to the point that dan Quinn can actually
talk with other teams. And so for Seattle, I anticipate
you're going to see them put in slips and all
likely in the coming days here for some of the
young offensive coaches, because with Pete Carroll, you know they've
had good offensive at times through the years, but Pete's
foundation is defense, don't turn it over. We're going to
win the way that we have to we have to
cut you loose Russ Wilson, Gino Smith in the fourth quarter,

(01:03:56):
We're going to do that. I think it's going to
be somebody who probably fits, you know, in broad swaths,
the culture that they've built here. Not that you're going
to do everything the same as Pete, which is why
it doesn't necessarily have to be Dan Quinn. But I
think like that culture of positivity and competition is going
to be a big deal for them. They'll run a
broad search here and I'll be interested to see where
that lands.

Speaker 2 (01:04:15):
But it feels like Pete still wants to coach at
seventy two. Is he as attractive as Bill Belichick?

Speaker 15 (01:04:23):
I think that if Pete Carroll wants to coach, and
he said it in his press conference after the game
as well as yesterday, that he doesn't feel worn out,
he feels refreshed. He said, he's freaking jacked again, he
has another Pete carrollsm about what comes next here. Absolutely,
I mean there are teams that are going to evaluate this,
and I can tell you are evaluating this with Pete.

(01:04:44):
I mean there's a couple of teams that would make sense.
The Atlanta Falcons would make sense. I don't know that
Pete is moving across the country to do that at
this point, but there's always been an attraction for Arthur
Blank to bringing in a guy like a Pete Carroll.
I mean, he hired Dan Quinn years ago out of
that same program. The Chargers are also a possibility in

(01:05:05):
terms of at least evaluating this opportunity. Can you imagine
Pete Carroll going back to LA to take one more shot,
and he's got Justin Herbert a quarterback and a veteran
defense Again, these are all hypotheticals at this point. The
Chargers our team that is going to interview a ton
of people for this job. But I would absolutely not
rule out Pete Carroll coaching in the NFL again, potentially

(01:05:28):
even in twenty twenty four.

Speaker 2 (01:05:29):
All right, I'll leave you with this. I'm trying to
understand what the Bears are doing. You keep Matt Eberflus,
but you fire the offensive coordinator in the quarterbacks coach,
which now leads me to believe they move on from
Justin fields. Why would you take that job if you're
an offensive coordinator, if you're not even sure if Matt
Eberflus is going to be extended. So do the Bears

(01:05:50):
extend their head coach so you get some stability for
an offensive coordinator and or quarterbacks coach who's going to
go in there, and does that lead you to believe
the same thing that they're going to take somebody number
one overall at quarterback.

Speaker 15 (01:06:06):
I don't foresee a contract extension for Matt Eberflus at
this point, just because he's two years in. Most teams
don't do new deals two years in unless you've gone
to the Super Bowl. The Bears played better the second
half of last season down the stretch, and that really
made the case for Matt Eberflus to stick around. You
look at the numbers on their offense, they weren't horrible.
I mean, they ended up number two in rushing even

(01:06:28):
though they didn't even have justin fields for a chunk
of games. I mean, they're playing with a Division two
undrafted quarterback, Tyson Bagen and they're winning some of those games.
There were top ten most of the season and third
downs in red zone, so this was not a completely
broken offense by any stretch. I think that my instincts
are the same as yours, Dan, which is there's probably
a possibility. This would signal that you are bringing in

(01:06:49):
a new quarterback and you're going to gear a new
offense around him. But the Bears at this point are
not going to cut off any of their options in
terms of potentially keeping Justin Fields, although he's also at
a point where if you're going to commit to him,
you'd be thinking about a contract extension for him sort of.
The later Bears are in a really unique spot. Ryan
Poles said as much yesterday, where you're sitting on the

(01:07:10):
number one pick and the number nine pick, and you
have a quarterback who you know, even though it's never
been consistent with Justin Fields, which is the biggest fault
there and the biggest reason you might move on. You've
also seen him at times do some pretty cool stuff
on the field, So a lot of different directions that
could go. They immediately put in a request yesterday, Dan
hours after the Pete Carroll decision for Shane Waldron, who's

(01:07:33):
been the offensive coordinator in Seattle and had Gino Smith
playing at a really high level. Is it the most
attractive job in the NFL for all the reasons you
just said, there certainly is going to be trepidation amongst
some coaches of hey, am I walking into a one
year situation and then we're all going to be in
trouble here. But whether you're talking about justin fields or
you know, just as a LORI and probably more so

(01:07:54):
Caleb Williams, a potential number one pick coming in. He
hasn't declared for the draft yet, still could be Drake
May of ways this could go. Let's be honest, Caleb
Williams is the one that everybody in the league is
going to be talking about, and somebody, quite possibly, whether
it's the Bears or otherwise, is going to end up
in that number one spot taken.

Speaker 2 (01:08:10):
I lied, I have one more. What's the wildest rumor
you've heard? Not report? Do you have any wild rumors?

Speaker 15 (01:08:19):
I mean, haven't reality been more fun than Pete Berrell
is out in Seattle? Bill Belichick is out in New England.
I mean, listen, there's always rumors about, you know, what
potentially could happen with a Mike Tomlin. He's got one
year left on his contract. Usually the Steelers do extensions
earlier than that. They didn't in this case. Could he

(01:08:40):
you know, potentially walk with their They'd absolutely be interested
with other teams. I think that's something you know to
keep in mind here. I mean, there's there's so much
stuff we have a coaching think about this, Dan, just
like thirty thousand foot view this for a second. We
have an NFL coaching cycle right now where we're talking
about possible candidates Jim Harbaugh, Mike Rabel, Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll.
That's a really that's a real thing that's happening right

(01:09:02):
now in twenty twenty four. And when you look at
the young the young candidates for some of these jobs,
there's certainly a lot of talented young coaches. But outside
of Ben Johnson, maybe a Brian Callahan, maybe an Aaron Glenn,
there's not a whole lot of coaches that you say,
right now, Okay, opening shot, this guy's going to get
a job, and he's ready to go. It's going to
be an absolutely fascinating a few weeks in the hiring cycle.

Speaker 1 (01:09:25):
And oh yeah.

Speaker 15 (01:09:25):
Pour on top of that the fact that we've got
unique rules now for the first time where you can't
do in person interviews with people who are currently employed
by NFL teams until January twenty second, after the divisional
playoff games. You know, who's not subject to those rules,
Bill Belichick, Jim Mike Variable, Jim Harbaugh, those guys are
and Pete Carroll, all those guys. It's a different type

(01:09:48):
of a deal because if they end up getting released
from their contracts, which is a technical thing we can
deal with later, they're available to interview right now and
they'll be fascinating to see where it all goes.

Speaker 3 (01:09:57):
Thank you, Tom, you got it.

Speaker 15 (01:09:59):
Dan happy to be here.

Speaker 2 (01:10:00):
Tom pellis sera NFL Network insider man exhausted after that