In Bill Belichick’s first two years coaching Tom Brady, Brady went from a fourth-string sixth-round draft pick to a Super Bowl MVP. So Belichick knows something about getting a young quarterback ready to play.
And Belichick thinks Buccaneers coach Dirk Koetter has done an extraordinary job coaching Jameis Winston, as good a job through their two and a half years together as any coach has done with any quarterback.
“With Winston, I think he’s done a great job with him in two years, probably, arguably as good as any coach has done with any quarterback in the first two years of a career,” Belichick said, via the Tampa Bay Times. “Some of that’s the player, but certainly a lot of that’s the guy coaching him, the guy working with him every day. I think Coach Koetter and his staff have done a great job there.”
Koetter was the Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator when they took Winston with the first overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft. After that season, the Bucs fired head coach Lovie Smith and promoted Koetter because they believed Koetter was the perfect coach for Winston, and they worried they wouldn’t be able to keep him as a coordinator for long. Belichick thinks the Bucs were smart to pair Koetter and Winston.