Bill Belichick is arguably the greatest coach in NFL history. And most in NFL circles are convinced that Bill Belichick wants to coach in the NFL again. But he can’t let that interfere with his North Carolina bird in the hand, unless and until he’s about to capture the pro football two in the bush.
We’ve spent plenty of time writing about and reporting on his current situation. And we’ve at all times told the truth. Belichick doesn’t like that, because the truth is inconvenient to his current objectives.
Asked a compound question by Pat McAfee today about the various questions that were circulating while Belichick was: (1) not signing his contract; (2) actively attempting to generate NFL interest; and (3) making plenty of people at UNC nervous about his intentions, Belichick said this: “ProFootballTalk’s not a good source for me.”
Of course it’s not. Because from time to time we say things he doesn’t like.
Like this. Remember when it was leaked that multiple teams had asked Belichick whether he would be open to leaving North Carolina and returning to the NFL, with the twist that he’d spoken directly to Raiders minority owner/majority influence Tom Brady? Brady had, we were told, zero interest in hiring Belichick. The gesture, we were told, was a favor to Belichick in an effort to try to pull the rip cord on a potential NFL market for his services.
Is it a coincidence Belichick didn’t sign his contract until last week, after it became obvious there would be no NFL job for him this year? The term sheet he’d signed in December wasn’t binding, by its own terms. He could have left. Whether he would have left isn’t known. But he could have, possibly while owing North Carolina not a single penny.
He can still leave. Why did he ask for a buyout that would let him go before June 1, 2025 for $10 million? Why did he ask for the buyout to drop to $1 million after June 1? That term didn’t spontaneously write itself. Belichick wanted it. And he got it. And when he finally signed the contract, it was still there.
When asked about his buyout on the Let’s Go! podcast, Belichick grumbled to Jim Gray, “Jim, you know I don’t discuss contracts.”
It’s one thing to discuss contracts no one has access to. His North Carolina contract is public record. And it contains a glaring term that empowers him to walk whenever he wants.
Coaches bend, twist, and/or distort the truth all the time in order to conceal their true strategies (e.g., “I’m not going to be the Alabama coach”). Belichick couldn’t have said he was looking to leave if he was looking to leave. And the mere existence of the buyout coupled with the unsigned contract allowed him to leave. Again, he still can; it would just be expensive to do it.
Come next year, he’ll be in play again. And even if PFT isn’t a good source of information for Bill, it is a good source of information for the people who have collectively refused to offer him a head-coaching job, through two hiring cycles and counting.
We’ll be covering it all and reporting what we learn and not sugarcoating it for Bill or his consigliere “Lombo” or anyone else. That’s how we handle the content on the website and how we present the weekday show on Peacock.
You know, the one that’s co-hosted one day per week by Rodney Harrison, one of Bill’s all-time favorite players, and one day per week by Devin McCourty, a key member of the second half of Belichick’s 20-year Patriots dynasty.
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