Former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski has urged the Atlanta Falcons to hire Bill Belichick and hand over full control to the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach.
Belichick’s 24-year reign in New England came to an end this month when he parted ways with the Patriots after an unprecedented period of success that saw him leave with six Super Bowl rings and win nine AFC title games and 17 division titles.
A 4-13 campaign, his third losing season in the past four years was enough to end his time at Foxborough. Belichick currently has 302 regular season wins under his belt to rank third in the all-time list and is in striking distance of Miami Dolphins great Don Shula’s record of 328.
Many believe that the 71-year-old Belichick wants to better Shula’s mark, but with Jim Harbaugh landing the LA Chargers job this week, just four NFL head coaching vacancies remain.
Belichick has twice interviewed with the Atlantic Falcons over replacing Arthur Smith, the second of which took place last Friday, with no concrete updates following that.
One potential sticking point is said to be whether or not Belichick would be getting full control over coaching and personnel decisions, but Gronkowski believes Falcons owner Arthur Blank should give the veteran coach the keys to the castle.
“I would 100 per cent hand it over to coach Belichick,” Gronkowski told the Up & Adams Show. “He has a proven record of being able to handle it. He handled it very well for however long he was in New England – what was it like 20-plus years? He knows how to do it. He’s got experience, so hand it over to him. He’s going to change the program around.”
Following Harbaugh’s appointment in LA, the Carolina Panthers, Washington Commanders and Seattle Seahawks are the other remaining teams with head coach vacancies.
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