Bill Belichick leaving Patriots after 24 seasons, sources say - ESPN

Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots are expected to part ways Thursday after a remarkable 24 seasons together, ending an unmatched run in NFL history that included six Super Bowl titles, league sources told ESPN.

Belichick and Patriots owner Robert Kraft spent a good part of this week periodically meeting and discussing how each side wanted to proceed. From sources familiar with those conversations, there was said to be no conflict, no disagreement, and in the end, productive talks resulted in a mutual decision that left both sides comfortable and at ease.

Both Belichick and Kraft, as one outside party noted, "took the high road," which was fitting for an owner-coach tandem that will go down as one of the greatest and most decorated in NFL history.

Belichick, who had one year remaining on his contract, will be allowed to leave the team without the Patriots seeking compensation. He will want to continue coaching and is expected to draw interest from at least some of the other seven NFL teams that have head-coaching vacancies, quite possibly the Atlanta Falcons, league sources said.

The Patriots now will embark on their first head-coaching search in a quarter century. Patriots linebackers coach Jerod Mayo, whom the team signed to a contract extension in the offseason and Kraft has identified as a rising head-coaching candidate, projects to be a, if not the, leading candidate for the job, sources said. Mayo played for the Patriots from 2008 to 2014 and has been an assistant under Belichick since 2019.

Belichick's exit from New England is expected to come less than 24 hours after his close friend Nick Saban retired from Alabama.

There is a symmetry and a similarity in the departures of two football legends -- men that are widely considered the greatest coach in professional history and the greatest coach in college football history. Belichick helped lead the Patriots to nine Super Bowl appearances and six Super Bowl titles; Saban led Alabama to nine SEC titles and six national championships.

Additionally, Saban succeeded Pete Carroll as the Ohio State secondary coach in 1980; when Belichick was head coach in Cleveland, he worked with Saban from 1991 to 1994; and Belichick replaced Carroll as the Patriots head coach in 2000 before all three vacated their long-standing jobs this week in a 24-hour period.

The fact that Belichick and Kraft are going their own ways carries an element of sadness, but not surprise. Kraft had pointed out how important it was for the Patriots to make the playoffs this season. Instead, they were one of the first teams eliminated on Dec. 10.

Speculation about Belichick's future swirled during the 2023 season, with one of the lowest points for the team coming Nov. 12 in a 10-6 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Frankfurt, Germany.

Before that game, addressing this past season, the 82-year-old Kraft told NFL Network: "It's really been disappointing. I had hoped things would be a lot better, as I know our fan base did. ... This isn't what we were expecting to happen this year."

Another key factor for Kraft was the franchise's trajectory since the departure of quarterback Tom Brady as a free agent after the 2019 season. Since losing Brady, which pained Kraft, the Patriots have posted losing records in three of their four seasons, and their last playoff win was a 13-3 triumph over the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII on Feb. 3, 2019 -- when Brady was still on the team.

Belichick, 71, leaves New England with 333 career victories (including playoffs), ranking second all-time behind Don Shula and his 347. Belichick, George Halas and Curly Lambeau are the only NFL coaches with six championships since the league began postseason play in 1933.

Belichick's 24-year tenure was the fifth-longest of any head coach with one team. He had completed his 49th consecutive NFL season in 2023, the most consecutive coaching seasons in league history.

He is now looking to spend season No. 50 with another NFL franchise.

Belichick's résumé also includes these marks that are expected to stand for the foreseeable future:

• 17 division titles, the most by a head coach in NFL history, with Shula, Andy Reid and Tom Landry tied for second with 13.

• Nine conference championships, the most by a head coach in the Super Bowl era.

• 12 Super Bowl appearances (including his time as an assistant).

• 21 winning seasons as a head coach, which trails only Halas (40), Shula (33), Lambeau (33) and Landry (29).

• One of four undefeated and untied regular seasons in NFL history (2007). It was the only one under the 16-game schedule played from 1978 to 2020.

The Patriots have scheduled a news conference with Belichick and Kraft for noon ET Thursday, and it will mark the end of a remarkable era in Patriots and football history.