Bill Belichick has been at the center of some wild stories in his career, perceived to rule with an iron fist in New England.
In his prime, Bill Belichick was often compared to Emporer Palpatine from Star Wars. It wasn’t only because of his wardrobe choice to wear a hood on the sideline with the New England Patriots. Many players, pundits, and experts have taken turns telling stories of his no-nonsense workaholic demands.
Of course, since then, Belichick has relaxed his image thanks to his time as a media member. However, not all of Belichick’s takes were positive.
Over the years, he also earned comparisons to the Star Wars villain because he ruled the NFL, accruing six Super Bowl rings and dominating the AFC East. As most sports fans know, Belichick didn’t win by making friends with rivals, and upset a few players along the way too.
Steven Ridley recalls how he got sent to “fat camp”
Speaking on a February 27 edition of “Games with Names,” former Patriots running back Steven Ridley recalled a painful early interaction with Bill Belichick that ended with him joining a “fat camp.”
“I was tipping that thing between 235, 240, SEC, running back between the tackles. … ‘Coach said you got to be at 220’ I said, ‘220 how?’ … He said, ‘You can go see the head man if you want to.’ There I went,” he said.
He added: “I [told Belichick] ‘That’s impossible. … I don’t know how you want me to get there. I’ll bust my ___ and do whatever, but like, 220?”
“‘Ridley, really, I think it’s only about $563 per pound per day that you’re overweight. So it’s really up to you. … $563 per pound per day,’ and he doubled down on it. … I’m a third-round draft pick. I ain’t got money like that,” he said.
“So fat camp, I was basically in there with all the guys who were overweight that were trying to cut weight, so I would have to go in every morning, I’m talking about, it’s still dark outside 5 am and just hit the treadmill and run. … That structure and that discipline, it made me a good pro, because I legit dropped this weight for the simple fact that I was not going to give up my money,” he said.
He added: “And let’s do the math. If I’m 238 and the weight is 220 let’s do that times 563 bucks times 18 per day. My paychecks are gonna be pretty thin,” he said.
Instead of his paychecks getting thin, the running back decided to be thin instead.
Steven Ridley fell short of expectations in the end
The former Patriots running back had a moment in the spotlight, but it was only just a moment. The running back logged just one 1000-yard season for the Patriots. It also was the only 1000-yard season of his career.
While he managed to avoid needing a conventional job outside of the NFL for the entirety of his 20s, he hit his peak early. Ridley stayed with Belichick for just four years before changing teams. He went on to join the rival New York Jets and Atlanta Falcons for a season each. At the end of his career, he joined the Pittsburgh Steelers for an age 28 and 29 season.
In the end, Belichick seemed to tire of him, letting him out the door without a second contract. He never was able to win over another team, logging less than 300 total yards in the final four years of his career.
