Former Patriots speak in depth about the light-hearted, fun side of Bill Belichick

“Coach is absolutely fantastic – every year during the holidays, he sends us gifts and baskets and really nice chocolates.”

Bill Belichick is infamously known for his monotone voice and harsh demeanor. He’s not the most friendly of coaches when it comes to time with the media and he doesn’t necessarily wear his emotions on his sleeve.

There’s a side to him that the public doesn’t always see and it’s refreshing to know he’s human also. Belichick grew up with a military mentality and it has led to six Super Bowl wins as a head coach and more success than any other coach in NFL history.

NBC Sports Boston’s Tom E. Curran released a new podcast episode titled, ‘The Bill Belichick You Don’t Know’ on Thursday. It features a slew of former Patriots and their own respective stories about Belichick.

These stories were transcribed by Boston.com’s Deyscha Smith.

Rodney Harrison:

“Coach is absolutely fantastic – every year during the holidays, he sends us gifts and baskets and really nice chocolates. He’s an easy-going guy; conversations are always light; he doesn’t really take himself too serious, as much as other people think that he’s this really serious guy; he’s caring; he’s just an open relaxed guy. I got a great relationship with him.”

Charlie Weiss:

“He’s actually very very funny, that would shock the people of New England. He’s got a good sense of humor. It’s just that that’s not him the football coach. That’s him the person, and he’s always been able to divide church and state. I mean this is the same guy that’s close friends with Bon Jovi, he’s the same guy that me and him were at a charity event for my charity and we’re singing background to ‘Wanted Dead Or Alive.’  So, I mean it’s the same guy — there’s him the football coach and there’s him when he’s not the football coach.

“I think that in the world we live in unfortunately, with cell phones and everyone videoing everything you do, you really got to be on your guard to live a more quiet, anonymous type of lifestyle when you’re away from football.”

Rob Ninkovich:

“I think it was 2009, it was my first year there and you have a general idea of Bill as a young guy coming onto the team. There’s a little bit of fear of, ‘You don’t want to get him angry or do you anything [because] you could get cut easily,’ he’s got the power to do all.

The year we played Tennessee … I’m walking out after the game, walking to my truck and all of a sudden, a snowball comes flying in, and I’m like, ‘Who the heck is throwing snowballs?’ And it was Bill throwing snowballs at guys. It was just kind of funny, Bill Belichick throwing snowballs at people. I’m sure he was super pumped because we had won by a lot and it was snowing.

It was just kind of a fun moment where you were like, ‘He’s not so bad…he’s not so bad.’ I threw a snowball back — but it was one of those moments where it was like, make sure you don’t hit him.”

Martellus Bennett:

“For me, Bill [and I] are very cool. It was different, we had a very talkative relationship, I talked to him about a lot of things. There were moments when I was going through something and I needed some advice, and Bill is a guy that I would turn [to] and ask what he thought.

“Bill is a really great, straightforward guy, and that’s what I like about him the most. And he’s really funny. [He’s like] Larry David, like “Curb Your Enthusiasm”…that’s how Bill is. You can’t really explain the humor, you have to be in the room when it happens.”

Matt Cassell:

“I remember one time we’re sitting in the meeting room, and he was critiquing Asante Samuel and he said, ‘Okay!’ That’s it Asante, hit him with a pillow. Let’s throw marshmallows at him sometime.’ There’s that sarcastic, funny humor that a lot of people are scared to death to even smile during those meetings because you’re like, ‘I could be the next one up on that film study.’

“Sometimes you’ll even see him crack a grin after he says something like that.”

Shane Vereen:

“He has such a dry sense of humor and it’s hilarious, he’ll compare plays to funny situations that have nothing to do with football.

“Before we go on long breaks, before we go for summer vacation or after season, he likes to pull up news reports of other NFL players who made poor decisions in the offseason, just a little reminder [and] bug in our ear of what we should not be doing.

“He would go over the reports and he’d have us guess as to what time of the day these things happened, what do [we] think these guys are in the news for, and then he’ll always leave us with, ‘Stay off the [blank], bottom line. Stay off the ticker, the ESPN ticker, that bottom line that goes across your screen.’”

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