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Bill Belichick Takes Rogue Shot at Jets Over QB Struggles in Latest Podcast Appearance

Belichick is in the college world now, but still can't resist calling out the Jets.

Liam McKeone

Belichick has long held an adversarial relationship with this New York franchise
Belichick has long held an adversarial relationship with this New York franchise / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images
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Bill Belichick is the head coach of North Carolina football now, but the new duties he's assumed entering the amateur realm are not stopping him from continuing his media appearances. This includes the Let's Go podcast, which Belichick has hosted alongside Jim Gray all season long. Monday brought a 2024 NFL season recap episode from the podcast series and included another shot at the New York Jets by Belichick.

The longtime NFL head coach's adversarial relationship with the Jets has long been common knowledge, and Belichick hasn't been shy about criticizing the franchise in the time he’s spent as an analyst on various media platforms this past season. The narrative reemerged on Monday, when Belichick called out the Jets for their quarterback struggles in the latest Let's Go podcast.

Belichick was asked by Gray how teams go about finding an NFL quarterback, and the head coach responded by joking that teams should just look for the latest Jets QB to be cast off.

"Well, you might take a look at one the Jets might've released," Belichick laughed. "Geno Smith and Sam Darnold, they've done pretty well."

It's an amusing through line even for those who don't have a personal history with the Jets. The franchise drafted Geno Smith in 2013 and Sam Darnold in 2018. Both flamed out within four years in New York. Both eventually found a new home that allowed them to flourish. All the while the Jets continued to churn through QBs and enter 2025 once again looking for a new signal-caller after the Aaron Rodgers experiment officially crashed and burned.

Belichick, obviously, isn't interested in letting anyone forget that anytime soon.

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Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.

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