Add longtime NFL quarterback Jim McMahon to the list of people who say you can’t trust Bill Belichick.
McMahon, who spent part of training camp and the preseason with the Browns in 1995 when Belichick was Cleveland’s coach, says that Belichick lied to him about the Browns’ intentions with him. McMahon says he moved his family to Cleveland because Belichick promised him that he’d have a spot on the Browns’ roster, but as it turned out McMahon lasted only three weeks in Cleveland.
“I was with Bill in Cleveland in ’95. He lied to me right to my face so I never trusted him after that. So all this stuff that happened, I’m sure he was right in the middle of it,” McMahon said on the Dan Patrick Show.
In fairness to Belichick, it’s possible that when he told McMahon that he’d be on the Browns’ regular-season roster, he meant it. Belichick said publicly after cutting McMahon in August of 1995 that he might re-sign McMahon days later, depending on how things worked out with some injured players on the Browns’ roster. And by that point, McMahon was a 13-year veteran who should have known that if you want a guaranteed payday in the NFL, you’d better have a guarantee in your contract, and not just take your coach’s word for it.
Still, McMahon said Belichick can’t be trusted, and McMahon believes that Belichick was probably involved in Deflategate.
“I know he’s a liar, so cheating ain’t far behind, I don’t think,” he said.
Despite McMahon’s hard feelings, things turned out OK for him. Later in 1995 he signed with Green Bay, where he earned a Super Bowl ring as Brett Favre’s backup. Belichick, on the other hand, got fired at the end of the season.