Bill Belichick did indeed have a coaching offer for 2024.
But it wasn’t as a head coach.
The former Patriots boss was actually given the opportunity to do “whatever he wanted” on the 49ers’ staff, San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan revealed Tuesday on “The TK Show.”
Belichick and New England mutually parted ways after 24 seasons at the helm and six Super Bowl titles.
The 72-year-old interviewed with the Falcons for their vacant head coaching position after they fired Arthur Smith, but Atlanta instead hired former Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris.
Shanahan, when asked on the podcast if he had offered Belichick any role on the team, answered in the affirmative.
“I did, I threw it out to him, he loves football so much that you never know what he — I can’t believe he’s not a head coach of a team right now,” Shanahan said. “I know what I would do if I was an owner so that shocks me, and the last thing you want to do is insult someone like Bill Belichick.
“But I know he just loves ball in its simplest form, so I threw it all out to him, whatever he wanted to do.”
When asked if that included the defensive coordinator gig, Shanahan said that would have been on the table for Belichick, who won two Super Bowls with the Giants as a defensive coordinator.
“He politely turned me down,” Shanahan added.
The 49ers fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks after falling short of the Super Bowl in a heartbreaking overtime loss to the Chief.
They eventually promoted Nick Sorenson to the role.
Shanahan did say on the podcast that he would be worried if Belichick came to help him out — only to go to a rival team in 2025.
“I’m sure he’s going to be back in the league next year, and I could be going against him. He could be in the NFC West,” Shanahan said. “It would have sucked if he came here and then he was going against us, so that’s the stuff you have to be careful about.”
The Patriots defeated the Falcons 34-28 after overtime. AFP via Getty Images
Belichick is taking the year off from coaching in the NFL, instead taking various gigs in the sports media world.
He’ll join the “ManningCast” this season during ESPN’s alternate broadcast of “Monday Night Football” and CW’s “Inside the NFL.“