It was a situation always expected. Giants would crash in mid-season, and Bill Belichick would leave for the job. A similar thing followed. Patience ran out for Brian Daboll at the New York Giants, as they fired him. As expected, the Tar Heels HC’s name is coming up in the rumor mill. Is the 73-year-old ready to take up the NFL mantle again?

Trenni Casey, the reporter for NBC Sports Boston, shed light on Bill Belichick’s future at the Giants. On the November 11th podcast episode, along with other hosts, Casey declared Belichick’s time to have run out in the NFL. “Is there any chance that Bill Belichick’s name picks up any momentum here? Because it is the Giants,” asked the host. Casey, without any hesitation, presented a grim NFL future for the UNC head coach and gave her reasons.

“I don’t know. I know that UNC’s won their last two games against powerhouses, Syracuse and Stanford. And I just feel like his time has run out in the NFL.
If teams wanted to hire him, they would have hired him when he was available and not doing anything at all, but he had to go to UNC,” said Casey. It’s, of course, concerning news for the 73-year-old head coach, who may have wanted a lifeboat amid a tough UNC season.

Bill Belichick has a deep relationship with the Giants, going back to his assistant days. The former Patriots head coach started at the Giants as their defensive assistant in 1979, and continued until 1991 when the Cleveland Browns came calling. The 11 years worth of time Belichick spent make him an ideal candidate for the job. Not to mention, the head coach’s season with UNC isn’t quite a success.

UNC, upon Belichick’s arrival at UNC, was expecting fireworks early. The program gave the 73-year-old a whopping $10 million contract per year and presented every resource within means. Despite that, North Carolina has won just 4 games in the season so far and has lost to teams like TCU (14-48) and UCF (9-34). Despite the team making a comeback against Syracuse and Stanford recently, winning both games comfortably. The rest of the three games surely aren’t a cakewalk.

Is Belichick’s time at UNC running out, too?

UNC will face Wake Forest on the road on 15th November. A team that has defeated opponents like SMU and Virginia, most recently. The next game, too against a 5-4 Duke, is far from manageable as the team has already defeated Clemson and NC State. Lastly, UNC will go to NC State on the road. The Wolfpack have just defeated Georgia Tech 48-36, and a win for UNC looks quite unlikely. So, what would the future be for Belichick after a 4-win season at UNC?

“I think Belichick would do it in a second,” said veteran NFL columnist Gary Myers about Belichick taking up the Giants HC job. Myers also highlighted why it was important for Belichick to join the NFL. “I know that’s important to him, although he’ll never admit that. And I also know it’s important to him to win a Super Bowl without Brady. I think it’s something Belichick very much wants to do,” said Myer in a recent podcast. But now that, Giants are not interested in him, as echoed by Trenni Casey. Is this the time for Belichick to call it quits?

The Tar Heels have invested quite a lot in Belichick. Right from giving him a $50 million contract to allocating $16.3 million for his assistants. Not just that, but the program also pledged $13 million in player revenue sharing out of $20.5 million. “We’re taking a risk… investing more in football with the hope and ambition that the return,” said AD Bubba Cunningham. So, amid that heavy investment, we could see Belichick stay at UNC for one more year in a second-chance bid. However, in the absence of that, it’s unlikely that the 73-year-old would be coaching again amid fewer takers.