What Jimmy Johnson learned from recent Bill Belichick visit: ‘A lot of people working against him’

There’s nothing to be afraid of with Bill Belichick.

Former Cowboys and Dolphins head coach Jimmy Johnson said Belichick spent time in Miami with him last week and Belichick told him he does not need the personnel control that potentially scared some teams away from him this offseason.

“Some of these owners are a little bit afraid of him and the general managers and the personnel people in the organization are really afraid of him,” Johnson told WQAM Radio in Miami.

“They think that if he comes in they are going to lose their job. A lot of people working against him … I was shocked he didn’t get some more opportunities. He’ll get an opportunity next year.”

Belichick interviewed with the Falcons twice before they decided to hire Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris as their next head coach.

There were reports that Falcons CEO Rich McKay and general manager Terry Fontenot advised owner Arthur Blank to pass on Belichick over concerns their own roles would be diminished.

“Bill is upfront about it,” Johnson said.

“He said, ‘Hey, I don’t need to be in charge of everything.’ That’s what happened up in New England. He kind of fell into that deal, and it’s not necessarily that he pushed for it. That’s what happened because he was there for so long.”

Blank also denied that Belichick had insisted on being more than the head coach of the team.

“I do want to make it 1,000 percent clear — I want to go to 2,000 percent or 100,000, whatever percent you want to use — Bill Belichick never asked for, in our discussions, full control over personnel or the building or anything of that nature,” Blank told reporters of his discussions with the 71-year-old Belichick. “He was very inclusive, very collaborative, he met Terry Fontenot, he checked out our people using his own references. He sent me a private text, which I eventually shared with Terry, that he’d be happy working with him.

“All these things that were being produced by the media were totally not true. I say it not to patronize Bill but to be fair to him. He never had that as a requirement. He’s got his history, he has a way of doing things, etc., which were very, very successful. You can debate if that’s true the last four years or so, might be a different picture, but there’s a lot of stories, learned a lot of things.

“I think it was a very good series of interviews with him. Our folks were impressed with him. I was impressed with him, as well as a number of candidates. And we just felt — all things considered, for a variety of reasons — that Raheem Morris was clearly the best choice for us.”

There were seven teams with head coaching openings, not including the Patriots, this offseason and the Falcons were the only team that talked to Belichick, who split with New England in January after 24 years and six Super Bowl victories.