North Carolina GM addresses Bill Belichick, Tom Brady conversations amid Raiders rumors

Eyebrows were raised when NFL Media's Tom Pelissero reported shortly after the Las Vegas Raiders fired head coach Antonio Pierce that Raiders minority owner Tom Brady "spoke recently" with current North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick "about what it would take to make a reunion happen in Las Vegas."

North Carolina general manager Mike Lombardi, who previously served as an assistant to the coaching staff under Belichick with the New England Patriots, insisted during a Thursday appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show" that Belichick remains "one thousand percent committed" to the Tar Heels regardless of rumors linking the 72-year-old with a return to the NFL. 

"Yes, Tom Brady is being involved with interviews," Lombardi said about the role TB12 is playing in Las Vegas' search for Pierce's replacement, as shared by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. "Yes, Tom Brady is doing research on head-coaching candidates. Yes, Tom Brady is calling people up for advice and counsel because that’s why he’s so great at what he does, because he’s listening for advice. But don’t assume that because he’s doing that, he wants Bill Belichick."

Shortly after the Raiders announced on Thursday that they had fired general manager Tom Telesco, Florio revealed that an unnamed team executive said when Belichick took the North Carolina gig in December that the six-time Super Bowl champion head coach "essentially wanted a team to violate the spirit of the Rooney Rule by unofficially promising him a job without doing a proper search." 

Belichick is just 15 wins shy of breaking Don Shula's league record for career victories earned by a head coach (regular season and postseason combined), and the $10M buyout attached to Belichick's North Carolina contract likely wouldn't stop an NFL owner from pursuing the living legend during the ongoing hiring cycle. 

"Bill Belichick committed to North Carolina," Lombardi continued on Thursday. "He committed it to me. He committed it to the university. There’s been no conversation about anything. ...I mean, this is the best job we could have at the time of our lives and we’re gonna really embrace it and we’re gonna work hard to make North Carolina proud."

On Friday morning, Florio noted that "conventional wisdom in NFL circles is that Telesco was fired to clear a path for the next head coach to hire his own personnel executive." Belichick ran the show throughout his New England tenure, and it seems he could have similar power with Las Vegas if he is interested in leaving North Carolina and if he, Brady and Raiders owner Mark Davis come to some agreement for handling the previously mentioned buyout.