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Bill Belichick joked about trying to recruit Paul Rabil to play football in ESPN’s new lacrosse show
"Rabil's Places" featured multiple former Patriots in its debut episode.
During his lengthy tenure with the Patriots, it’s no secret that Bill Belichick was always trying to find talented athletes from other sports.
Whether it was Olympic rugby player Nate Ebner contributing to New England’s special teams, former champion wrestler Stephen Neal becoming a starting guard, or ex-lacrosse player Chris Hogan catching touchdowns after converting to football (and winding up in the Patriots’ offense), Belichick was never afraid to experiment.
In a newly launched ESPN+ show about lacrosse—which centers on the travels of retired lacrosse star Paul Rabil—another of Belichick’s recruiting pitches was (further) revealed. In 2008, Belichick exchanged emails with Rabil about potentially making the switch to football.
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It was the opening sequence of the newly-launched show, “Rabil’s Places,” produced by Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions (and similar to Manning’s version about football, “Peyton’s Places”).
“I think you’re trying to steal lacrosse players to play football. How else would you explain this?” Rabil said to Belichick before dramatically revealing what he said was the printout of an email exchange. “An email from 2008 between you and a former lacrosse star. Allow me to quote: ‘Would you want to try out?'”
“Those are emails between you and me,” Belichick deadpanned.
“You wanted me to leave lacrosse to play football,” Rabil reminded Belichick. The former Patriots coach scanned through the dated correspondence.
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“You said you could be a receiver,” Belichick said. “You’re definitely enough of a diva for that.”
The interview mostly took place in the course of a catch that Belichick and Rabil had throwing a lacrosse ball back and forth. It primarily focused on the former Patriots coach’s background in lacrosse (and notably avoided Belichick’s personal life).
Rabil, 39, is a Premier Lacrosse League co-founder and National Lacrosse Hall of Famer. Like Belichick, he was born in Maryland but spent a significant amount of his professional sports career in New England (as a member of the Cannons).
The second guest Rabil brought onto the show was none other than Hogan, the Super Bowl-winning Patriots wide receiver who had switched from lacrosse after a successful run at Penn State. Rabil had Belichick call a play and snap him the ball so he could throw Hogan a pass, humorously pitching himself as “QB1.”
The show’s season will span five episodes, each of which drop every Wednesday through July 2.
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