Is Bill Belichick still eyeing an NFL return? His UNC contract provides a clue

Bill Belichick is like an ogre. He has layers. So does, as it turns out, his contract at North Carolina.

And as we work to understand Belichick's decision to go to UNC, we can learn from the financial agreement. Because it can help us cut through the crap and see what's real. Let's start with the question that's on everyone's minds: How long will he stay at UNC? Might he still have an eye on the NFL?

"I didn't come here to leave," Belichick said last week at his introductory press conference in Chapel Hill.

His contract, however, tells a different story. 

It's essentially a three-year, $30 million deal. According to the fine print, Belichick starts with a buyout option of $10 million. That's a big number, but not one that would wholly prohibit interested NFL teams from hiring him. Think about how teams have taken on $10 million in dead salary cap money to move on from a player. It happens many times a year. But the buyout number drops to $1 million on June 1, 2025. 

That's fewer than 170 days from now. 

UNC just fired coach Mack Brown and had to pick up his $4 million buyout. So that sum of $1 million is basically nothing. There's no doubt in anyone's mind that, if Belichick wants to leave UNC, either he or his next team will take on $1 million (and maybe even $10 million).

Most likely, his initial buyout takes him out of this year's hiring cycle. But that's it. He's an eligible candidate starting during the 2026 offseason — just one full football season from now.

So the contract is telling us that maybe he does intend to leave Chapel Hill.

The question is whether any NFL team will want him. He will be eligible, yes. But will he be desirable?

"He's not a young man by any means, but yes, he does have a contract that would