North Carolina football general manager Michael Lombardi addressed the ongoing speculation about the relationship between Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson and whether it is impacting the football program.
In an appearance on ESPN Radio’s “Marty & McGee” Saturday, Lombardi dismissed much of the speculation about Hudson’s involvement with Belichick as “noise” and said the program did not want to add fuel to the fire.
“I mean, a lot of it is just noise,” Lombardi said, via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “And for us to be distracted by something that has no bearing, that has no relevance whatsoever, that is a complete falsehood, in terms of what people are saying or what they’re writing. It’s comical. And for me, to really even attack anybody who’s saying it, gives them credibility. Which I don’t, because it’s a completely false narrative.
“The noise out there comes from a direction of people trying to be disruptive within our program. We’re not going to allow it. We’re not going to acknowledge it. We’re gonna move on. And look, let’s face it, the proof’s in the pudding. We’re having a tremendous recruiting class. We had a tremendous portal, and we’re going to continue to get better every day.”
This is a bit more in line with the traditional Belichick stance of not giving oxygen to outside noise. That approach has been undermined by Hudson’s controversial presence around the North Carolina program, where there have been conflicting reports about how extensive her role is. Belichick has claimed that Hudson has no real role within the program, though others seem to feel differently.
For the moment, Belichick and his cohorts have quieted some of the noise and avoided giving it any new fuel. However, the speculation will continue, especially since it would be very easy for Belichick to leave his role as North Carolina head coach at this point.
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The New York Jets opted to cut Aaron Rodgers and sign Justin Fields to replace him during the offseason. This kind of commitment to Fields should bolster his confidence, but it could also place a lot of pressure on his shoulders. To this point, Fields has looked solid in training camp, aside from a scary toe injury that was quickly resolved in July. Justin Fried of the Jet Press recently reported that Fields' training camp may have reached a new low over the weekend as the young signal caller struggled. "Justin Fields put together his best practice of the summer to this point on Friday, completing his first 12 passes en route to an excellent all-around performance. The same can't be said about his showing on Saturday, however," Fried wrote. "Fields finished the day an abysmal 2-of-10 in the air, including a drop from rookie tight end Mason Taylor. "Some of his incompletions were catchable balls, but the Jets' passing game struggles on Saturday can largely be blamed on No. 7. Fields did flash his running ability with a 25-yard rushing score on the first play of red-zone drills, but the Jets would like to see more consistency in the air from the starting quarterback. Saturday's scrimmage was far from his best showing of the summer." Fields is a runner first at the NFL level, but his arm is nothing to scoff at. For most of training camp, his arm talent has been better than advertised, but during Saturday's scrimmage, it just wasn't there. A 2 for 10 performance is unacceptable for a $40 million quarterback who was signed to take over the team. The running game should open up the passing game for the Jets, which is going to need to be the case if Fields is going to struggle like this. However, it's just one day of camp. It's nothing to be too concerned about. Just because Fields lost this specific practice doesn't mean he's heading in the wrong direction as a whole.
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