Former New England Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel is adamant that Bill Belichick is not the best coach in NFL history because of how the team has fared without Tom Brady as quarterback. Samuel, 42, won two Super Bowls with the Patriots while working with Brady and Belichick during five years with the franchise. He is also a part of the Pats’ All-2000s and All-Dynasty teams after contributing to those two championships as a starter in the secondary.
After the second of those successes, Samuel left in free agency for the Philadelphia Eagles. He signed a lucrative contract as one of the most in-demand players on the open market. Despite declaring after joining that the main ambition in Philly was to return to the Super Bowl, that did not transpire despite him impressing individually. A decade removed from a ten-year career in the league, Samuel is not keen to credit Belichick for the rings they won together in New England.
Asked by CBS on NFL whether Belichick is the best coach of all time, Samuel did not hold back in sharing his opinion on the debate. “Absolutely not! Are you crazy? Look at his record without Tom [Brady],” Samuel replied. “You got to win without Tom. One thing I learned about being great is you got to be great in different situations.
“It was all Tom. I was there. I saw it. It was Tom. Everybody knows it. Tom knows it. But he ain’t gonna admit it because he wanna be politically correct. “That’s why I’m here. Imma tell the truth… I’ve been there, I’ve seen it; I confronted him, and we’ve been through it, and that’s how I do.”
Samuel has been similarly outspoken this offseason about ESPN’s cornerback rankings. “The New York media will take your career to another level,” the former corner said, alluding to New York Jets’ Defensive Rookie of the Year Sauce Gardner sitting second on the list, said on social media. He also called out future Hall of Famer and former Jets secondary star Darrelle Revis “It’s the NY media. What did Revis do so special? I’ll wait… It’s documented what great cornerbacks did in the stats.”
Both Gardner and Revis soon hit back at the initial comments. The former replied : “The tweet literally says those were the cornerback rankings by players, executives, scouts and coaches… I’m trynna (sic) figure out why you keep bringing up NY Media.” The retired Revis was more brutal in recalling what he remembers of coming up against Samuel. “I really don’t know much about this guy,” he said.
“(I) never was inspired to watch his film, but something does jog my memory. I do remember we played Falcons, and Rex Ryan made a highlight clip of him being doubled-moved on almost every single route.” He also brought up the interception Samuel infamously dropped at Super Bowl 42 in 2018.
