Former Patriot Asante Samuel doubles down on Bill Belichick critique: 'Hasn't shown that he's a great coach'

Former New England Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel doubled down on his criticism of Bill Belichick on Wednesday saying that without Tom Brady, he "hasn’t shown that he is a great coach." 

Samuel, who played five seasons under coach Belichick, responded to Cam Newton’s release Tuesday with a tweet calling the move "cold blooded," adding that Belichick is "just another coach" if you take Brady out of the equation. 

PATRIOTS’ BILL BELICHICK RELEASED CAM NEWTON TO OPEN THE DOOR FOR OTHER STARTING JOBS, SUPER BOWL MVP SAYS

On Wednesday, the two-time Super Bowl champion stood his ground, saying that after his departure from New England, Brady showed how "great" of a quarterback he really is and that Belichick has yet to show the same.

"He hasn't shown that he is a great coach -- to me -- because he had the greatest player of all time," Samuel said during an appearance on ESPN’s "First Take." 

"Tom Brady has already shown that he can win wherever he goes," he said. "Through adversity, through a pandemic, getting kicked off fields, barely having any practice, I didn't expect him to win the Super Bowl and he won the Super Bowl. Now, what I'm saying is, anyone can coach Tom and win a Super Bowl. Now, [Belichick] will have to show -- in my eyes  -- in order to be great in my opinion, you have to show you can do that without that person."

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Samuel went on to say that having made some achievements outside of his time with Brady might make Belichick a good coach but not a great one. 

"Like I said, we're talking about the word 'great' here. I think people use the word great and throw it around like it's just another word," he said. "To be great, you have to do some special things. You can't just do it with one situation at one team."

Samuel said his comments on Belichick had more to do with his overall perception of the coach, not the decision to release Newton. He called his time in New England "tough" but he certainly hasn’t been the first Patriot to make such comments. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Despite all that, Samuel sees some similarities between himself and Belichick and says their relationship is just "fine."

"Don't get it twisted, me and coach are fine," he said. "We cool. He's competitive like me."