Former New England Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick drew interest from several teams during the offseason. Also, he’s reportedly plotting his return to the NFL coaching ranks for the 2025 season. But for now he’s offering words of knowledge, like revealing which coach was the toughest to play-call against.

Belichick said the Shanahan duo of dad Mike and son Kyle provided him with plenty of challenges, according to the Pat McAfee Show.

“I would say the Shanahan’s both Mike and Kyle were very balanced guys,” Belichick said. “When you go against them as soon as it looked like this was starting to be a little bit of a trend, then they would do something to counter it. So you had to think of them in terms of balance.”

Former Patriots coach Bill Belichick met tough foes

Legendary former NFL coach Bill Belichick talks with Peyton Manning at the 2024 Manning Passing Academy.

Belichick said the Shanahans had a way of turning tendencies against their opponents, including the Patriots.

“The trend was balanced,” Belichick said. “So if things tilted towards runs, or passes, or directional plays more to the right than the left, or things like that, then you could almost count on him balancing it out. So that in the end you know you couldn't get a read on which way it was going or whether it's a run-pass tendency and so forth.”

Belichick added that the Shanahans had one predictable situation.

“They were kind of 50-50 on most everything, except for third and long, Belichick said.

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Kyle Shanahan developed respect for Belichick as well. He went to the future Patriots Hall of Famer during the offseason. Kyle Shanahan tried to lure him as an assistant coach, according to his comments on The TK Show via nfl.com.

“I did, I threw it out to him,” Shanahan said. “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. 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. I was like ‘Would you be interested?' And he was very nice and appreciative and he politely turned me down.

Kyle Shanahan said he expects Belichick to come back to league

Shanahan said he expects Belichick to be among the 32 NFL head coaches in 2025. Of course, that's with some other team than the Patriots.

“I'm sure he's going to be back in the league next year, and I could be going against him,” Shanahan said. “He could be in the NFC West. 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. But he's the best, and I just like talking to him.”

Belichick said he respected both coaches.

“Mike had not only a balanced scheme, but one that had pretty good breadth to it and variety to it,” Belichick said. “Kyle’s does too, it’s just a little bit different. There are certainly similarities. But again, the main feature of any offense is the players, and Kyle’s done a great job of taking the skills of his players and maximizing them and utilizing them in ways where they’re effective.”