Bill Belichick gives draft intel ahead of co-hosting Pat McAfee NFL Draft show
Bill Belichick won’t be part of a coaching staff for the first time in 48 seasons during next week’s NFL Draft, but he will be staying busy.
Belichick will co-host the “The Pat McAfee Show NFL Draft Spectacular” on YouTube and ESPN+, McAfee announced Wednesday.
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“I’m looking forward to it,” Belichick said Wednesday on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “It’s always — draft day, draft weekend is always an exciting time for everybody: for the teams that are building their teams and for the fans and for everybody involved in it. It’s a great event. I’m looking forward to seeing it from the other side. It will be fun to be in Detroit, to be with you guys and get your expertise.”
Belichick, who parted ways with the Patriots this offseason after 24 seasons as head coach, said he’s been breaking down film on this year’s draft class in preparation for next week.
“It’s sort of like what I’ve been doing, watching the players, specifically the ones that might be involved in our show, so the guys in the top part of the draft,” Belichick said. “But the first round leads into the second round, and there’s a lot of correlation there, so we’ll talk about that next Thursday night. Just trying to do some preparation and follow-up. I watched a lot of these guys in the fall and even some last year when they were juniors or when — they weren’t coming out but they were still factors in evaluating the players in the ’23 draft. It’s just kind of an ongoing process. Yeah, it’s fun to keep up with it. I always enjoy this part of the season.”
He agreed with McAfee that this year’s draft is heavy on talent at wide receiver and offensive tackle.
“I definitely think there’s a lot of depth at those two positions. They should go quite deep into the first round and probably carry over into the second round. I’d imagine there are teams towards the top of the draft that are looking at filling one position in the first round and then either coming back and getting a wide receiver or tackle in the second round, assuming that somebody will be left,” Belichick said.
One of those teams will likely be the Patriots, who are expected to select a quarterback at No. 3 overall and then turn back around in the second round to fill a need at wide receiver or offensive tackle.
“The draft is always full of surprises. It could go a lot of different directions. It doesn’t look like a lot of tight ends or running backs will be at the top of the draft, and defensively, probably not the same depth on the board that there was last year, the last couple years, at least not at the top. But it will always be interesting to see how things work out and trades can skew it a little bit. Overall, as usual, a lot of good young prospects.”
If the Patriots do take a quarterback at No. 3 overall and then trade back up to take a wide receiver in the first round, both positions come with an inherent risk, according to Belichick.
“We know historically, the quarterbacks and receivers in the first round are really a 50/50 proposition in the long run,” Belichick said. “And so, that’s what the stats will tell you. Each year could be different. It could be ’83, and there could be five franchise quarterbacks, or you could end up with none. Time will tell on that, but at this point, everybody’s optimistic that the player will reach his potential, and that’s why they’re being picked. They’re being picked because the teams want them.”
The top QBs in this year’s class are USC’s Caleb Williams, LSU’s Jayden Daniels, UNC’s Drake Maye and Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy.