Patriots coach Bill Belichick entertained the crowd in the media room at the NFL Scouting Combine, an appearance so rare he used the same story he told the last time he came through.
Belichick was a late addition to the list of coaches and General Managers to talk, taking the podium right after Jets coach Rex Ryan spoke at the other end of the room.
It was his first appearance before reporters at the Combine since 2009, and began his visit with a soliloquy about how much the process had changed, reminiscing about seeing William “The Refrigerator” Perry perform his vertical leap.
He also provided lush insights on the three-cone drill, the entire Tennessee offensive line, and made the now-standard comment about the depth of a draft with over 100 underclassmen in it.
Asked specifics about his own team, he had less to say.
The best exchange was when he was asked to talk about the addition of Mike Lombardi to his staff.
“Mike’s got a lot of experience,” Belichick said. “He’s done a lot of things in his career in the NFL. I’m sure he’ll be doing many of those things for us. We’ll see how it goes.”
So Lombardi will, in fact, do things. Thanks for clearing that up, Bill.
Asked why he didn’t hire Lombardi previously, when he wasn’t working anywhere else in the league, Belichick replied: “We always do what we think is best for our football team.”
Belichick admitted they were “in that process,” when asked where they stood on free agents Julian Edelman and Aqib Talib.
Perhaps he’ll elaborate five years from now, the next time he comes through and tells the Perry story.