Bill Belichick's take on rookie quarterbacks in the preseason

“You’re running the same things the whole game. You’re not game planning. You’re not showing too much.”

Bill Belichick speaking during Tom Brady’s Patriots Hall of Fame induction ceremony in June. Matthew J Lee/Globe Staff

Bill Belichick’s opinion on judging rookie quarterbacks: An early attribute of Bill Belichick’s newly launched media career is, perhaps unsurprisingly, his unwillingness to get carried away in a popular narrative.

Belichick’s opinions on the NFL have been formed over decades of coaching experience, leaving him with no illusions regarding the judgement of rookie quarterbacks in preseason football.

During a Monday appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Belichick was asked how much of the early hype he buys into regarding — as an example — No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams’s start with the Bears.

“Well, I think we’re gonna have to judge the rookies when they get to the regular season,” Belichick told McAfee. “Preseason is a good time to gain experience and get a little bit of game exposure, but especially at the quarterback position, the defenses are very basic.

“There’s not a lot of scheme, and when you’re on the defensive side of the ball, you’re playing, let’s call it, three-deep throughout the course of the game,” Belichick said. “First quarter to midway through the third quarter to another group to finish the game. You’re running the same things the whole game. You’re not game planning. You’re not showing too much. You’re just trying to run the stuff you’ve been practicing.”

Belichick compared the seriousness of defensive game-planning in preseason with that of an All-Star Game.

“Preseason is a good time to gain experience and get a little bit of game exposure..

We’re gonna have to judge these rookies when we get to the regular season especially at the Quarterback position” ~ Bill Belichick #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/LzRdJ6TRPM

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) August 12, 2024

“What the quarterbacks see in preseason and what they see in joint practices, and then what they see during the regular season, I think, are going to be quite different,” Belichick concluded. “It’s almost like playing in an All-Star Game, where you just see a handful of coverages.”

Despite the lack of realistic game conditions, Belichick went on to acknowledge that preseason games still have value. From a coaching standpoint, he gave some perspective on what’s being looked for.

“What I think the coaches are evaluating is how well the players do the things that they’ve been instructed to do and they’ve practiced to do,” Belichick explained. “So, the fundamentals, the communication within the limited, watered-down schemes that they’re running and just the live competition that you don’t get to see in practice.”

From a Patriots perspective, the first preseason game offered little for fans hoping to get a definitive look at rookie quarterback Drake Maye. The third overall pick from the 2024 draft played just one series, though he still drew some praise for subtle parts of his game.

Trivia: Can you name every first-round pick quarterback to start a game for a Bill Belichick-coached team? (This includes Browns and Patriots.)

(Answer at the bottom.)

Hint: Two with the Browns, three with the Patriots.

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