The conspiracy theories keep on rolling out with coach Bill Belichick possibly nearing the end of his legendary run with the New England Patriots.
There are no certainties that the Patriots will even be moving on from Belichick, but given the way the season has gone, it would be hard to imagine owner Robert Kraft moving forward without at least having a long conversation with the coach.
Some have already begun to speculate about the teams Belichick could land with in 2024. The spectrum of guesses has ranged from plausible to completely outrageous. One on the latter end has Belichick eager to coach the Patriots to a victory over the New York Giants in Week 12 for two reasons: chasing Don Shula’s all-time wins record and improving the Giants’ position on the 2024 NFL draft board.
Via NESN’s Jason Ounpraseuth, the Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy wrote:
Over the past 10 days, there have been rumors of Bill taking over the (Washington) Commanders, (Los Angeles) Chargers, (Dallas) Cowboys or Giants next season. Which leads us to a ridiculous conspiracy theory regarding next weekend’s Stupor Bowl between the Patriots and Giants: If Bill knows he’s going to be coaching the Giants next year, he’d be helping himself greatly by coaching the Patriots to a win. It would move him a step closer to Shula, while keeping the Giants ahead of the Patriots in the draft order.
There’s no question that Belichick is going to continue coaching to win football games regardless of the state of the team. However, it is highly unlikely that he’d be influenced by any outside circumstances that haven’t even happened yet.