Former NFL executive Michael Lombardi worked with Bill Belichick with the Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots. Lombardi, who spent over 30 years in the NFL, was on The Pat McAfee Show on Friday and discussed Belichick not getting a head coaching job this offseason.
Lombardi said, “I’m close friends with the man. I know him as well as I think anyone can know him. He was a member of the Patriots front office when the team won two Super Bowl titles.”
Michael Lombardi on Why Bill Belichick Wasn’t Hired
Lombardi cited the desire in NFL front offices for collaboration when McAfee asked about reports that Belichick wanted the Falcons to fire 30 people, a potential philosophy conflict and concern that he couldn’t relate to this generation of players.
Lombardi said, “The ultimate reason why: The NFL is now in a phase of collaboration. People want to collaborate. Everything is about collaboration. Let’s bring everybody together, let’s have a nice talk, we’ll go to Dairy Queen afterward. Everyone will have a participation in all this, and we’ll build a team. Let’s collaborate.”
Lombardi continued, “Ultimately, at the end of the day, in Atlanta, they favored a collaboration of their front office.” He said Belichick had no problem with Terry Fontenot staying on as Falcons general manager. Lombardi added, “Belichick has never had a problem working with people; I didn’t know Belichick when he came in 1991 in Cleveland — none of us did — and we all worked together.”
Lombardi finished his comments on Belichick and the Falcons: “I think Atlanta chose to go with their front office, which has won 21 games over the last three years and basically said to everybody the reason we lost is because (former head coach) Arthur Smith wasn’t good enough.”
Lombardi on NFL Collaboration
Lombardi thinks successful head coaches like Belichick and former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel are viewed as power-hungry.
He said, “When you have guys like Vrabel and Belichick who have strong opinions, who are very knowledgeable, probably more knowledgeable than any of the people interviewing them, then the collaboration door is not going to swing wide open; they’re going to think he’s just going to dictate to us.”
The former Browns general manager said, “It’s hard for me to understand that you’re just standing there saying we’re going to win. We ultimately care about winning, but we want to be in a collaborative play. The NFL is a hard league to be collaborative.”
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Lombardi then discussed the head coaches who are in charge of the two Super Bowl teams: “You could say they’re collaborative, but Kyle (Shanahan) runs the 49ers, and Andy (Reid) runs the Chiefs, and (Chiefs GM) Brett Veach does a great job with him, (49ers GM) John Lynch does help him, but there’s a collaboration from within from the head coach.”
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