Bill Belichick began the year on the market, a free agent for the first time since the Clinton presidency. After parting ways with the New England Patriots in January, he was eager to continue coaching, which seemed reason enough to expect to see him pacing an NFL sideline by autumn. Belichick, after all, is the owner of eight Super Bowl rings––two that he won as a wunderkind defensive coordinator for the New York Giants, six during his storied 24-year run as head coach of the Patriots. His 333 career wins are second all-time, his fabled game plans second to nobody. A guy with a résumé like that doesn’t have to compete for jobs; he inspires bidding wars.
Or at least he would have 10 years ago. Maybe even five years ago. But in 2024, a very much ready-to-work Belichick attracted scant interest across the NFL. He interviewed with just one team, the Atlanta Falcons, which ultimately hired Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris instead. By February, every head coaching vacancy across the NFL had been filled, while the greatest coach ever remained unemployed.
But Belichick, who reportedly faced skepticism from the Falcons front office, found a more fruitful job market when he shifted his focus from the sideline to the television studio. And as a new season kicks off Thursday night, the NFL’s most decorated coach has emerged as its most omnipresent media personality.
Jamie Horowitz, who cofounded Omaha Productions with Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning, made it a mission to bring Belichick to the company, which produces a variety of programming for ESPN and other networks. “Every offseason, the teams at ESPN and Omaha come together to talk about ways we can get better,” Horowitz said. “Our number one focus this offseason was trying to convince Coach Belichick to join the show.”
Horowitz and Manning treated Belichick, who turned 72 in April, like a blue chip prospect, embarking on a months-long recruitment. Belichick listened to Horowitz’s pitch on a Zoom call in February, before meeting with Manning in New York the next month. In May, Horowitz and Belichick had a tentative agreement in place following a meeting at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles. The deal was finalized in June, when Belichick made an appearance at the Manning Passing Academy, an annual high school football camp in Thibodaux, Louisiana.
Under the agreement, Belichick will appear on two Omaha-produced programs: The ManningCast, the alternate Monday Night Football broadcast hosted by Peyton Manning and his brother, former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning; and The Breakdown, a weekly show hosted by Peyton and Belichick that will stream on ESPN+. In addition to his duties for Omaha, Belichick will host and coproduce a weekly show on YouTube for Underdog Fantasy. He is also joining two existing programs: Let’s Go!, a talk show on SiriusXM, and Inside the NFL, a long-running series that now airs on the CW.
On Mondays, ESPN will effectively transform into Belichick TV. He will make his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show that day, having struck a separate agreement with the program earlier this year. Throughout the day, ESPN is expected to air clips from The Breakdown, which will feature Belichick and Manning’s analysis of that week’s edition of Monday Night Football. On The ManningCast, Belichick will join the eponymous hosts for the first half of the game, beginning with the week one matchup between the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers.
ESPN is keen to showcase what its president of content, Burke Magnus, described last week as Belichick’s “PhD level” knowledge of football. It is also showing off one of the year’s most highly sought sports-media personalities.
Tim Livingston, the VP of content at Underdog Fantasy, said he was ready “to move heaven and earth” when he caught wind that Belichick was interested in doing a show. “I’ve heard that a lot of other people were pursuing this,” Livingston said. “I think he really vibed with our vision.”
I’m told that Belichick and his representatives had talks with CBS, NBC, Fox, and Amazon––all of which, like ESPN, have broadcasting and streaming deals with the NFL––about having him join their coverage for the upcoming season. Belichick also had discussions with Spotify about hosting a podcast on the platform, although the company says those conversations were “casual” and they never extended a formal offer. He added one more media gig earlier this week, reportedly signing on with football site the 33rd Team as a strategic adviser, and on Wednesday, joined Instagram.
Belichick was apparently not interested in pursuing a conventional studio analyst role. On “Coach,” the web program he is hosting for Underdog Fantasy, Belichick will be able to wade deep into the weeds––with no topic too arcane. “If he wants to talk an hour about the evolution of the long snapper,” Livingston said, “we’re all for that.”
Belichick with Tom Brady and Robert Kraft with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after defeating the Seattle Seahawks, February 1, 2015 in Glendale, Arizona.Tom Pennington/Getty Images.
Mike Tirico was one of the first to observe Belichick’s media chops.
In 2006, Belichick joined Tirico for ABC’s pregame coverage of Super Bowl XL between the Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers. The Patriots had been knocked out in the divisional round of the postseason that year, freeing him up to serve as a guest analyst. Belichick had the credentials for the role, though perhaps not the charisma. By then, Belichick already had a well-earned reputation as a brusque figure, prone to giving reporters answers as dull as they were terse. Mark Leibovich once wrote that Belichick treated “public-relations duties as something akin to lice removal.” (Belichick, through his representative Neil Cornrich, declined my request for an interview.)
