FOXBORO — With reports swirling about Bill Belichick’s future as Patriots head coach, it’s certainly possible we’re experiencing some lasts as part of his historic 24-season tenure.

Belichick was known for going long on special teams, football history and other topics during some of his lesser-attended Friday morning news conferences through his head coaching career, though “Friday Bill” hasn’t shown up as often in recent years.

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He was back Friday before the Patriots travel to Denver to go deep on his one season coaching with the Broncos, how he developed his defense, center David Andrews’ leadership and Sean Payton’s strengths as an offensive coach.

“It was a great year for me,” Belichick, who was 26 years old at the time, said Friday morning of his time with the Broncos. “It was a great experience. The two years before that, I was in Detroit – coached the tight ends and receivers in Detroit. And then, in Denver, I went back to working on the special teams – worked on special teams in Detroit, too – but worked more on special teams and the defensive side of the ball in Denver. And, that was with (defensive coordinator) Joe Collier and (defensive backs coach) Richie McCabe, so it was (defensive line coach) Stan Jones, (linebackers coach) Bob Zeman, Richie McCabe and Joe Collier. And then, I did the breakdowns and stuff like that. So, I learned a ton out there. It was a graduate course from Joe, from Richie about the secondary play, and just in general the 3-4 defense.”

Belichick is reportedly under contract through 2024, but owner Robert Kraft hasn’t reached a firm conclusion on whether the Patriots will bring him back next season, according to a latest report from NFL Media.

Belichick began his NFL coaching career in 1975 with the Colts, then spent two seasons with the Lions. He joined the Broncos in 1978, one year after they lost to the Cowboys in Super Bowl XII, as an assistant special teams and defensive assistant coach. He started his 12-year tenure with the Giants in 1979.

Belichick hadn’t been quite as verbose throughout the season on Fridays as the Patriots have struggled in a 3-11 start to the season. But something about Friday’s topic had him in the mood to reminisce.

“And then, we played an over defense. It was like a version of a 3-4 Detroit, but it was a little bit different,” Belichick recalled. “Joe played the 3-4 defense that he played in Denver, which was – the spacing was the same, but it was configured a lot differently than what we eventually ran in the Giants when Coach (Bill) Parcells came. So, Baltimore was all 4-3. Detroit was a different version of odd spacing, 3-4 defense in Denver. Then, we played 4-3 for a couple years with Ralph Hawkins in New York. And then when Coach Parcells came, it was all 3-4, but it was a different type of 3-4 defense than what Joe ran in Denver, even though the spacing was the same.

“And that was – looking back on it – again that was a great learning experience, because I saw kind of the same thing, but they were actually very different in the way they were coached and the way they were – the schematics of it. And, of course, that changed some of the fundamentals, too.”

Belichick went long on a follow-up question about the different varieties and intricacies of the 3-4 defense and in turn described how he came up with his own version of the system by merging what he had learned throughout his coaching stops.

“Pittsburgh has their 3-4 defense. I would say that’s a lot different than – way, way different than what Joe’s defense was in Denver,” Belichick said. “The spacing is the same, but the coverages and the way the defense is structured is just a lot different. In Denver, we played the ends in five techniques. Pittsburgh plays them inside the tackles. We call it 4i. They over, over shift and some under. Joe, at Denver, we’d go into a game with 50 different fronts. So, the 3-4 became a 4-3. It became an over, it became an under, it became an even, it became a multitude of fronts and stunts that went with those fronts. But, we really only ran, call it two coverages, three coverages. But, the variety of the fronts were – it was hard to block those fronts because there were so many different looks, so many different combinations. …

“So, it’s just a different system, that’s all. Again, it was a good learning experience. When Bill (Parcells) came to the Giants from New England and brought the 3-4, his version of the 3-4, which was from Fritz Shurmur. Fritz was in Detroit when I was there. When we played that over 5-2 at Detroit, Bill’s 3-4 was a lot different than Joe Collier’s. As a coach, I kind of sat back and saw some ways to maybe merge some of those things together, which as I’ve gone on in my career, I’ve taken some things that Joe did, some things that Bill did, merged them together along some other stuff, too.”

Belichick wasn’t only great on the history of the game. He also showered Andrews, this year’s media good guy, with praise as a leader.

“Fantastic. Fantastic. He’s been, I mean, it’s been as good as I’ve seen, honestly,” Belichick said. “Every day, his performance on a daily basis is really exceptional. Attitude, effort, communication, energy, leadership of the younger players, leadership of his peers, communication, you name it.”

If Belichick isn’t back next season, then these history lessons from perhaps the greatest head coach in NFL history will certainly be missed.