Brian Belichick, longtime CB coach reportedly won’t be returning to the Patriots

Brian Belichick served as the Patriots' safeties coach for the last five seasons.

Safeties coach Brian Belichick says he is focused on the Patriots, not about the possibility of joining his father's staff at the University of North Carolina. Steven Senne / AP

By Conor Ryan

January 28, 2025

2 minutes to read

For the first time since 1999, a Belichick won’t be on an NFL coaching staff in New England.

According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, Patriots safeties coach Brian Belichick — son of Bill Belichick — won’t be returning to New England for the 2025 season.

Brian Belichick has served as the team’s safeties coach for the last five seasons, sticking around on Jerod Mayo’s staff in 2024 even after his father was let go by the organization at the end of the 2023 campaign.

Brian’s older brother, Steve, left the Patriots soon after their father’s dismissal, serving as the University of Washington’s defensive coordinator in 2024. He is reportedly expected to join his father at the University of North Carolina in 2025, with the Tar Heels standing as an intriguing potential destination for Brian as well.

Brian Belichick first joined his father’s staff in Foxborough as a coaching assistant (2017-19) before taking over as safeties coach from 2020-24.

Belichick is not the only secondary coach who is reportedly leaving Foxborough this offseason. Reiss also reported that cornerbacks coach Mike Pelligrino is leaving the franchise after serving in said role for six seasons.

Pellegrino, 31, has been one of the more lauded assistants on New England’s coaching staff since first arriving in Foxborough as a coaching assistant in 2015.

Along with winning two Super Bowls as an assistant, Reiss noted that Pellegrino coached up a cornerback grouping that had three All-Pro talents (Stephon Gilmore, J.C. Jackson, Christian Gonzalez) over his six years as cornerbacks coach.

Gonzalez’s continued growth into a franchise cornerback under Pellegrino’s tutelage stood as one of the few positive developments in what was an otherwise miserable year for the Patriots in 2024.

Both Pellegrino and Belichick’s departures come at a time when new Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel is overhauling the current staff in place in New England.

According to The Boston Globe’s Nicole Yang, several coaches from last year’s team — including defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington, defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery, inside linebackers coach Dont’a Hightower, and outside linebackers coach Drew Wilkins — are not expected to return in 2025.