New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel has reacted to Bill Belichick’s latest comments about his old team and says the former coach is welcome back “to the best of my knowledge,” while adding that “nothing surprises me,” per ESPN.

Belichick, in his first year as the North Carolina coach, said on Saturday that Patriots scouts were not welcome at North Carolina practices because “I’m not welcome around their facility.”

“Bill came back for, to the best of my knowledge, [to] Tom’s ceremony,” Vrabel said in his weekly interview with sports radio WEEI , per ESPN. “So I guess he’s welcomed back based on the fact he was there.

“I’ll just go by that — since his departure as the head coach here, he’s been back. I’ll leave it at that.”

Vrabel was referring to Belichick’s attendance at a ceremony for Tom Brady in 2024.

Belichick, 73, left the Patriots after the 2023 NFL season and his departure was officially announced on Jan. 11, 2024. He coached the franchise to six Super Bowl championships with Brady as the quarterback.

Since then, Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Belichick have traded barbs through the media.

At Fanatics Fest in New York in July, Kraft was asked the best move he’s made as owner and he said it was when he traded a first-round pick to the Jets for the right to hire Belichick. He also said it was a “big risk” since Belichick had had a losing record as head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

Belichick then said it was he who took the big risk because he already had a job with the Jets.

“As I told Robert multiple times through the years, I took a big risk by taking the New England Patriots head coaching job,” Belichick told ESPN. “I already had an opportunity to be the Head Coach of the New York Jets, but the ownership situation was unstable.”  

Belichick also told the Boston Globe he preferred working at North Carolina than with the Patriots.

“There’s no owner,” he said, “there’s no owner’s son.”

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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter and Basketball Insider for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.

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