Bill Belichick’s media blitz will be more expansive than anticipated
He still will be as visible to most football fans as he was during his 24 seasons as Patriots head coach.
When the new season kicks off next week, Bill Belichick will not be part of an NFL coaching staff for the first time since 1974.
Yet he still will be as visible to most football fans as he was during his 24 seasons as Patriots head coach.
During its annual media day Wednesday at its Bristol, Conn., headquarters, ESPN provided more specifics on Belichick’s previously announced roles with the “ManningCast” and “The Pat McAfee Show.”
Belichick’s assignments — particularly the “ManningCast,’’ an alternative broadcast to “Monday Night Football” produced by Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions — are more expansive than anticipated.
Belichick will appear each Monday on McAfee’s show (which airs noon– 2 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN+, and 2-3 p.m. on YouTube and ESPN+). Belichick made his debut on the program during its live coverage of the NFL Draft, offering detailed and candid assessments of players as they were drafted, including the Patriots’ No. 3 overall pick, quarterback Drake Maye.
Belichick’s partnership with the “ManningCast” is even more compelling. He will be a guest on all 11 editions of the program, hosted by Peyton and Eli Manning, over the course of the season, beginning with the Sept. 9 matchup between the Jets and 49ers.
Belichick will join the show shortly after it begins and stay through the first half, with an assortment of celebrities and other guests coming on in the second half of the games.
He also has signed on to host a companion studio show with Peyton Manning, titled “The Breakdown with Peyton and Belichick.” Jointly produced by Omaha Productions and NFL Films, the half-hour show will air on Fridays on ESPN+ (with multiple airings in advance of the game on ESPN2) as a preview of the upcoming Monday night matchup. It will debut Sept. 6.
Belichick, as previously reported, has other regular media jobs lined up. He will appear each week on The CW’s “Inside the NFL,’’ which also features Ryan Clark, Chad Johnson, and Chris Long. He also has a deal with “Underdog Fantasy,’’ a fantasy sports app.
Somewhat unconventionally, Belichick will be appearing on two different shows that air on Fridays, on different networks. The weekly, hour-long “Inside the NFL,’’ which is in its 48th season overall and second on The CW, debuts this Friday at 9 p.m.
“Inside the NFL” has long been a highlights/recap show featuring typically superb NFL Films footage, most memorably during its ‘80s heyday on HBO, with Len Dawson and Nick Buoniconti as the hosts.
This season, the show is taking a different approach. It still will feature plenty of NFL Films content and mic’d up players and coaches, but it now will be structured as a preview show of the week’s upcoming games.
“We’re not looking back,’’ said Steve Menzel, Senior Producer and Showrunner, NFL Films, “but looking ahead and turning the page to next week.”
Belichick has had a longstanding appreciation of NFL Films and a friendship with vice president and executive producer Ken Rodgers, who directed such documentaries as “A Football Life: Bill Belichick,” “The Two Bills,” and “The Tuck Rule.”
In 2019, Belichick won an Emmy Award for his contributions as an analyst to the NFL Network’s series “NFL 100 All-Time Team.”
Menzel said that “Inside the NFL” is set up in part to play to Belichick’s already familiar strengths as an analyst, as well as his relationships with fellow panelists. Long and Johnson both played for Belichick in New England.
“One of the things we ask ourselves is, ‘What would it be really cool to hear Bill talk about?’ ’’ said Menzel, who noted that the studio set is situated so that the panelists are facing each other, inspiring them to converse rather than talk in soundbites. “It’s kind of like game-planning to put these guys in the best spots to bring out the best in each other and build that camaraderie.”
Menzel said that in rehearsal, Belichick already has mastered explaining complicated strategies in easily digestible ways.
“Watching Bill is a reminder that coaching is so much like teaching,’’ said Menzel. “He is so good at explaining the nuances of football because he’s been doing it his whole life. You come away from every conversation with him feeling like you’ve learned something. I think viewers are going to love hearing him share his incredible knowledge.”
There’s no doubt they will, especially if they are Patriots fans. And they sure will have plenty of places to find him.
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