Bill Belichick coached many elite players during his two-plus decades at the helm of the New England Patriots. Five players he coached in Foxborough have already been inducted into the Hall of Fame, with a few more on the way who aren’t yet eligible. The most notable of whom, of course, is the greatest to ever do it, quarterback Tom Brady (set to be eligible in 2028).
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He and Belichick together were the catalysts for the team’s extended period of success. Even if they didn’t particularly like one another, they still respected one another. However, while Brady is without a doubt the best player Belichick had the pleasure of coaching, Chapel Hill Bill singled out one of Brady’s teammates as the single “smartest player” he ever coached. That player was Hall of Fame wideout Randy Moss.
Widely regarded as the second-best receiver ever to play the game, behind Jerry Rice, Moss was often lauded for his physical gifts rather than his mental dexterity. However, as Belichick revealed, there was a lot more going on behind Moss’ West Virginia twang than most suspected.
When asked what comes to mind first when he thinks of Randy Moss, it wasn’t his ability to “Moss” opposing DBs or run like a gazelle. Instead, it was his intelligence that stood out to the eight-time Super Bowl-winning coach.
“One of the smartest players I’ve ever coached. Certainly the smartest receiver. He taught me more about receiving and the passing game by far more than anybody else,” Belichick said, beaming with pride.
“I remember our first meeting, when you came in from Oakland. And, I’ve never coached anybody like Randy Moss. Then we’re talking about single-high safety and the running game and all that. And Randy’s like, ‘You’re not gonna see any more single-high safety. You can forget about that.'”
Moss instantly ingratiated himself to Belichick’s football mind after that. For those who don’t know, a single-high safety look generally means a team is playing Cover 1, which means man coverage across the board except for that safety up top. That allows defenses to stack the box more to stop the run.
However, with a receiver of Moss’ caliber, defenses would need to commit more defenders to the back end to stop him, thereby opening up the running game.
“The thing about it was that I really studied the Patriots, their offense, and how they went with their passing game. And I said coach, we’re going to see Cover 2 or them playing the passing game for the whole season.”
It was almost as if Moss knew that he was about to have a record-breaking campaign for the ages in his first year with the Pats back in 2007. He went on to set an NFL record that still stands today with 23 touchdown catches, many of which were of the long-ball variety. Teams certainly weren’t playing Cover 1 against Moss, but Cover 2 didn’t work much better either.
According to Belichick, that first meeting with Moss was a long time coming. The Patriots had been trying to trade for him for months prior to the 2007 Draft. Belichick called the process “like childbirth” because of how long and gruelling it was.
When he was finally able to get Al Davis to acquiesce, Moss didn’t even believe it was Belichick calling him to finalize the deal. The head coach had to call the wideout three times before he came around.
“I said ‘We’ve gotta get the guy in for a physical. We can’t take his contract we need to renegotiate his contract. ‘ And Mr. Davis said, ‘Well that’s your problem!’ It’s 11:30 at night… I call up Randy, I said ‘Hey Randy, this is Coach Belichick.’ Boom, hangs up the phone. I was like OK, let me try this again. ‘Hey Randy, this is Coach Belichick.'”
"The most interesting trade was the Randy Moss trade..
We had been trying to trade for him for two months..
The first two times I called him to say we got him he hung up the phone because he thought it was a prank" 😂😂 ~ Bill Belichick#PMSDraftSpectacular pic.twitter.com/ov13j9L7Xg
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 26, 2024
The pair of Belichick and Moss certainly had some good times together, but things did end on a sour note after Moss left following the 2010 season, saying that he “did not feel wanted” by the Patriots. A Super Bowl ring forever eluded Moss, though he is now comfortably settled into his second act as an analyst for ESPN.
Bill Belichick, meanwhile, will remain in the limelight as his North Carolina Tar Heels are set to become the first college football team to be featured on HBO’s Hard Knocks this year.
