Bill Belichick’s son Steve in line to become next head coach of Patriots?

Bill Belichick’s son Steve appeared to take on a much bigger role with the New England Patriots’ coaching staff last season, even if no one in the organization seems to want to acknowledge it. While many have assumed Josh McDaniels will eventually take over as the head coach of the team when the elder Belichick retires, that no longer looks like a sure thing.

Mike Florio and Chris Simms said on PFT Live recently that they could envision Steve Belichick becoming the head coach of the Patriots when Bill calls it a career. Florio said he began getting that sense when Steve took over calling defensive plays last season. Simms, who played for the Patriots for a brief period, agreed.

“I was around Steve a little bit,” Simms said, as transcribed by Ryan Hannable of WEEI.com. “He’s smart. He’s a really hard worker. I think he’s trying to stay in his father’s shadow — not to be a kiss ass or anything like that, but he wants to learn truly every little thing his dad is thinking about during a week or before a game.”

Simms also said he believes Steve Belichick’s quick rise up the Patriots’ coaching ranks could be the primary reason McDaniels got back into the head coaching conversation.

“Added to the fact that I think there are a number of people in football that look at it right now and think Belichick kind of screwed over Josh McDaniels with the coaching hires this year anyway — making him stay in the building, didn’t let him go down to Carolina and interview, never got a chance to interview with the New York Giants,” Simms said. “So, those are things I look at too and go. ‘Man, how can Josh be happy with Bill Belichick at this point now?’ I think that would favor Steve Belichick even more.”

Bill Belichick said years ago that he did not want to coach into his 70s, but the 67-year-old backed off that statement more recently. That probably has a lot to do with Steve becoming such an integral part of his father’s coaching staff. If you listened to audio of Steve without knowing who it was, you might even think you were listening to Bill talk. That has to excite Patriots owner Robert Kraft.