Bill Belichick to Jets? Rumors heat up after Woody Johnson fires GM and coach | Sporting News United Kingdom

Bill Belichick was once — briefly — head coach of the New York Jets. He also was the defensive coordinator for that team and the New York Giants, both under Bill Parcells. Like Parcells 25 years ago, Belichick may now get the chance to be both general manager and coach of the Jets.

The Jets fired GM Joe Douglas on Tuesday, weeks after dismissing head coach Robert Saleh in what’s now become another disappointing season with Aaron Rodgers at QB. New York has fallen to 3-8 after going 7-10 without a healthy Rodgers in 2023.

Belichick, 72, is doing television analyst work in his first year since ending his eight-Super Bowl dynasty run with the Patriots, where he served as both coach and GM despite not having that latter official title.

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Will Jets hire Bill Belichick?

There has been a question whether Belichick would un-retire and return in just the capacity of head coach, working with someone else to “buy the groceries.” The Jets are the first team that needs to make both hires in 2025. 

The Jaguars might soon follow suit in moving on from Doug Pederson and Trent Baalke to get into the Belichick sweepstakes, but the Jets’ firing of Douglas on top of Saleh makes them front-runners because they have more time to court Belichick to return to New York. 

Woody Johnson was not the principal owner of the Jets when Parcells ended his dual leadership role in 1999. Johnson has catered to Rodgers by firing his top two brass, and you can bet Rodgers will have a say in what the Jets do to replace Douglas and Saleh.

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Tom Brady mentioned once he thought the Patriots would have been unstoppable offensively with a younger, prime Rodgers. Would Belichick want the challenge of what he can do with a much older Rodgers, like how Brady embraced leading the Buccaneers to Super Bowl glory without Belichick?

Stay tuned. The Belichick-to-Jets rumors will only keep heating up and getting louder from here.