Belichick still under contract, open to changes

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick broke from his long-standing rule of not discussing his contract as speculation about his future hovers over the organization.

In his regular-season-ending video conference early Monday, Belichick spoke of continuing the process of analyzing the team’s “disappointing” 4-13 campaign while reminding reporters: “I’m under contract. I’m going to do what I always do, which is every day I come in, work as hard as I can to help the team in whatever way I can.”

Belichick, in his 24th season, has often said he won’t answer questions about his contract, which has been one of the NFL’s closely guarded secrets.

Belichick shared that he will soon meet with ownership, led by Robert Kraft, as he has done at various times after seasons in past years.

Asked whether he would consider relinquishing personnel authority, Belichick said: “Look, I’m for whatever we collectively decide as an organization is the best thing to help our football team. I have multiple roles in that, and I rely on a lot of people to help me in those responsibilities; somebody has to have the final say. Whatever that process is, I’m only part of it.”

Belichick didn’t acknowledge whether Kraft has given him any indication his job is in jeopardy.

“I learned [a] lesson from my dad growing up — you work for the team that you’re working for and do the best you can for it, until somebody tells you different. So that’s not going to change,” he said.

Belichick added that he is “heavily invested” in the Patriots organization and made it sound like it was business as usual for him Monday, which included a final meeting with players at 9 a.m. ET.

“It was obviously a very disappointing season all the way around. Players, coaches, staff, organization, everybody; [it] is not anywhere close to what our standard and expectations are. So, obviously, things need to be fixed,” he said.

“… We’ll start putting the pieces back together in terms of setting things up to go through a good, detailed analysis and to kind of start a reconstruction, if you will.”

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