Bill Belichick is a human football encyclopedia. That much was evident when he gave reporters a history lesson on the evolution of long snappers, made a field trip to Jim Brown’s statue to educate his players on the greats of yesteryear or recapped the evolution of the forward pass under Curly Lambeau and Don Hutson. But during his illustrious coaching career, Belichick got to provide only a few glimpses into his bottomless wealth of knowledge. This season, as a member of the media, he’s got nothing but time — and he’s not afraid to put his former team in the crosshairs.
Throughout his various media appearances, the eight-time Super Bowl champion coach has not held back while criticizing the actions of the New England Patriots. With their season all but over, the team opted to trade linebacker Josh Uche to the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for a 2026 sixth-round pick. It’s a move that seemed to make plenty of sense for a team looking to accumulate as much draft capital as possible. Belichick, however, saw it differently.
Bill Belichick voiced his disapproval after the Patriots traded Josh Uche
During his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Belichick expressed his displeasure with the trade.
“[Kansas City] didn’t give up anything in my mind,” Belichick said. “Look, Josh Uche’s a really good rusher. He hasn’t had a chance to rush much this year for the Patriots because they’ve been behind a lot. The situation hasn’t been good.”
Belichick may have a soft spot for Uche considering he selected the Michigan product in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Still, others have expressed a similar sentiment regarding the compensation New England received for the young pass rusher.
Uche is just two years removed from an 11.5 sack campaign, but the team’s negative game script this season caused the pass-rush specialist to see a significant reduction in playing time. With opposing offenses gashing New England on the ground this season, Uche played less than 35 percent of the team’s defensive snaps in five of seven games.
“He had a big year two years ago,” Belichick said. “Now, he had (Matthew) Judon on the other side of him so it was two good pass rushers. But he’ll have a lot of opportunities to rush in Kansas City. I think that he’ll really help them.”
With the Chiefs being far more likely to hold a lead, Uche is poised to receive plenty of pass rush opportunities under defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. Getting to the quarterback should also become easier. Opposing offenses have to account for Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones in their protection schemes, which will create one-on-one matchups for Uche on the edge.
“He’s got surprising power for his size,” Belichick said. “He’s got excellent quickness and a good get-off. And he has some flexibility in coverage. So I think it’s a good addition for a team that needs another pass rusher, which everybody does. Josh can do that. He’ll definitely help them.”
In their first season without Belichick, the Patriots have often appeared to be among the worst teams in the NFL. New England is ranked last in yards gained and No. 23 in yards allowed this season. They are currently on pace to finish with 104 penalties, per The Football Database. Under Belichick, the Patriots only finished with more than 100 penalties one time since at least the 2006 season.
