New England Patriots

Steve Belichick on working for Dad: 'I’ll always be Bill Belichick’s son' in the media

Published Jan. 31, 2017 1:53 p.m. ET

Brett Smiley

New England Patriots safeties coach Steve Belichick has heard it many times before: that he's only there because he's coach Bill Belichick's kid (rather, adult son). Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan (son of former NFL head coach Mike Shanahan), who's now in his 13th season in the league, has heard that plenty too.

“Yeah, I experience that every day,” said the 29-year-old Steve Belichick said during on Monday media availability, via Mass Live. “Thank you. Thanks for bringing that up.”

Named for Bill's father, who was a legendary football scout at the Naval Academy, the younger Steve expanded on the father-son dynamic via WEEI.com's Ryan Hannable:

“Everybody has heard it. Life isn’t fair. I don’t expect it to be. I like to work for what I get. I’ll always be Bill Belichick’s son to everybody in the media, but to the people who really matter — my friends and family. I am Steve, so those are the people I care about. I could care less about everybody else.”

“I worked hard to get to where I was,” he said. “I started working training camps back in eighth grade when the Patriots were at Bryant [University]. I’ve always just tried to create stock for myself and become a valuable asset wherever I go. That’s really been my goal. Obviously I did enough for my dad to give me a position and I’ve just tried to earn it and continue to get better every year.”

This is Steve's first season as the safeties coach after spending three seasons as a coaching assistant. In college at Rutgers he played lacrosse for four years (where he actually competed against Patriots wideout Chris Hogan, then a Penn State Nittany Lion) before walking onto the football team his senior year as a long snapper to prepare for a career in coaching.

Will he rise up the ranks like Kyle Shanahan, who is poised to become the San Francisco 49ers head coach? Steve Belichick certainly has the pedigree. Plus you can be sure that New England — the ultimate meritocracy — would have sent him packing long ago (or traded him for a draft pick) if he wasn't any good.