There's a strong chance the Jacksonville Jaguars will dismiss Doug Pederson, and Bill Belichick was seen as a likely replacement until he took the North Carolina job. However, the Jags' interest in the Hoodie might not been as high as it was previously reported.
Pederson has been on the hot seat in the light of the Jags' struggles. That led to speculation about Belichick taking his place. But just days after he became the UNC head coach, Diana Russini of The Athletic reported that he reached out to the New York Jets to tell them that he was interested in their opening weeks before he made the leap to the collegiate level.
"For months, Belichick’s inner circle quietly conducted informal conversations with a few teams, testing the waters. A very small circle of people in the Jets building were made aware of his interest, though I was told no meeting or formal conversation ever happened because the UNC opportunity popped up. So, in the end, none of the talks — with the Jets or any other NFL team — turned into anything serious, and now North Carolina is Chapel Bill."
This is shocking for a few reasons. For starters, it's not often that head-coaching candidates get in touch with clubs to express interest in working for them. Jim Fassel once did, when he wrote a letter to the Las Vegas (then Oakland) Raiders owner Al Davis asking him to coach for him. It may have happened more times, but we don't know about them because they were reported.
Circling back to Belichick, he became the UNC head coach as a way to get back to the NFL. The issue with that is that the league seems to be perfectly fine with it. Heck, you could go as far as saying that teams in need of a head coach didn't care. Simply, the interest wasn't there.
In that hiring cycle, Belichick only met with the Atlanta Falcons, and their interest wasn't particularly high. He might've tested the water ahead of the offseason and found out that things haven't changed much. Knowing he wasn't going to get a gig in the pros, he deflected to UNC.
The Jaguars are better off with Bill Belichick going to the collegiate ranks
The Jaguars were heavily linked to Bill Belichick for several weeks before he took the UNC job. Their interest or lack thereof sparked conversations about what kind of role he would have and whether he would be willing to work with general manager Trent Baalke. In the end, it turned out to be just noise, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
After all, nobody will deny that Belichick has an amazing football resume, having gone to eight Super Bowls and winning two of them during his 24-year stint in Foxborough. Similarly, he's been praised for his defensive acumen dating back to his days as the coordinator for the New York Giants. However, the championship-winning head coach also came with red flags. The biggest one was his inability to consistently replenish his roster.
Once the talent dried out and Tom Brady left the Patriots, Belichick's flaws as a general manager were exposed. Add the fact that he may have wanted full control of roster decisions, and no team was willing to deal with the headache regardless of his past success.
In the end, it no longer matters. Bill Belichick is now with UNC, meaning that the Jacksonville Jaguars can scrape them off their potential list of candidates to replace Doug Pederson. They can now turn their attention to other candidates who may not have as much name recognition but may be better suited to put the team in a position to succeed.