Bill Belichick Opens Up On Lacrosse, Says Tom Brady Would Be A Goalie Because 'He Can't Run'
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Bill Belichick eats, sleeps and breathes the sport of football. But his one true love has always been the sport of lacrosse.
Belichick played lacrosse throughout his life, and he served as the captain of the Wesleyan lacrosse team in his senior season. In recent years, Belichick could be found out on the Gillette Stadium turf with a lacrosse stick in hand, playing a casual game of catch in a rare respite from the grind of the NFL season.
So it was no surprise that in a recent interview with Lacrosse Magazine, Belichick was about as open, honest and relaxed as he's ever been on camera.
The full interview (which was seemingly discovered by The Ringer's Kevin Clark) is worth watching, as it offers some insight on Belichick that we don't typically see in the football world.
Toward the end of the interview, Belichick was asked where he'd put some of his current Patriots players on his team if he were coaching them in lacrosse.
On Rob Gronkowski: "If I could teach him any stick work, I'd put him at crease attack. Let him go out and clear out and just let him go to the goal."
On Tom Brady: "Eh. I'd put him in the goal. He can't run. I mean. He can't run. He can't dodge. He can't run."
Ouch!
On Julian Edelman: "Yeah, he'd be a good midfielder. A good midfielder."
Aside from being one of the greatest coaches in football history, Belichick is always thinking of ways to improve the game. Though the NFL powers that be typically pooh-pooh his ideas initially, many of them have gone into effect. (It's only a matter of time before his proposal to make everything reviewable by replay, as well his call for cameras on the goal line come to life.)
But as it turns out, Belichick has some ideas on how he'd improve the sport of lacrosse, too. Interestingly, the man considered to be a true defensive genius would make changes which would make lacrosse a game with more offense.
"I'd take out the substitution. Maybe take out a long stick or two," Belichick explained. "I think back in the '70s, there were a lot more 16-14, 17-15 games, where it was up and down, there wasn't a substitution. There were no long sticks. I'm not saying it's in a bad place now, but you know, I enjoy the end-to-end action and middies being able to play both offense and defense, as opposed to specializing. So you know, I think that part of it was fun.
"Does the sport need a shot clock? I don't know. That's a tough question, because then that's going to bring in zone defense and all of that," Belichick added. "It'll be interesting to see how all of that unfolds. But I like the end-to-end action, and I like the midfielders playing on both ends, not just one or the other."
Another fascinating revelation came when Paul Carcaterra asked Belichick about Paul Rabil.
"I've told him this many times, we're always looking for a strong safety. And he's got the size, the speed, the toughness, that every year I look in the draft and I don't see anybody that has the physical attributes that he would have to be a safety," Belichick said.
Yet while most of us would assume that the idea of lacrosse's biggest star making the jump to the gridiron would send Belichick into a euphoric sate of semiconsciousness, it turns out that Belichick dissuaded Rabil from making such a decision.
"When he was coming out of [Johns] Hopkins, he was like, 'I want to give football a try.' I'm like, 'Paul, you are the face of lacrosse. You are the biggest lacrosse player in the world. You can't play football.' And he was like, 'Yeah, I guess you're right,'" Belichick relayed.
That, truly, is a shocker. Former lacrosse player/current Patriots receiver Chris Hogan will just have to fill the Rabil void.
In a less-surprising bit of news, Belichick revealed that when it comes to actually playing lacrosse, he likes to keep secrets.
"So that's one of the biggest compliments I've ever had in my life. So when I went down and I was at Hopkins practice, and I said, 'Could I help warm up [goalie Jesse] Schwartzman?' And they were like, 'Yeah, sure, get out there.' So when it was over, [coach Dave] Pietramala asked him, 'What'd you think of Belichick's shot? Is he righty or is he lefty?' And he didn't know. He didn't know. And I'm like, 'There we go.'
"Because I told my kids, I'm never going to tell you what I am [lefty or righty]."
Carcaterra followed up: "So they don't know?"
Belichick answered: "Nope. I'm never going to tell you what I am."
And later, after Carcaterra and Belichick finished playing catch, Carcaterra took a shot: "You're a righty."
"No way," Belichick replied. "I'm both."
Oh, that sneaky, sneaky Bill.
Watch the full interview below. And check out The Bill Belichick Foundation while you're at it.
You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.
