Bill Belichick appears to be fully invested in his surprising new job as the head coach at the University of North Carolina, but there are people at the NFL level who are reportedly still trying to get the six-time Super Bowl champion to reconsider. One of those people is Tom Brady.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reported on Wednesday that multiple teams have inquired about whether Belichick would bail on UNC for another head coach job in the NFL. Brady is now a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, who fired Antonio Pierce on Tuesday.
Brady recently spoke with Belichick about what it would take to convince the 72-year-old to coach the Raiders, according to Pelissero. Brady is expected to have a significant influence in the Raiders’ search for a new leader, and the legendary quarterback believes his former coach could help turn things around for the franchise.
Belichick is set to make $10 million per year at UNC. He has a reasonable buyout of $10 million that drops to $1 million after June 1, 2025. The details of the contract have led many to conclude that he has not ruled out returning to the NFL, though it would be downright shocking if he did so after only a few weeks on the job in Chapel Hill.
When Belichick first engaged in discussions with North Carolina, one line of thinking was that he wanted to create leverage and show NFL teams he had other options. He then stunned the sports world when he actually took the job.
For what it’s worth, Belichick officially began recruiting this week and seems fully dug in at UNC.
Keep in mind that Belichick was the head coach of the New York Jets for just one day in 2000 before he resigned to take the New England Patriots job. Belichick infamously wrote “I resign as HC of the NYJ” on a napkin as his official resignation.
It is incredibly unlikely that Belichick would jump ship at UNC before his first season with the team. But if the main reason he took the job was that he believed no NFL teams had interest in him, we could be in for some fantastic drama.
