Report: Bill Belichick enforcing ban against New England Patriots scouts from North Carolina practice

For more than two decades, Bill Belichick made himself an NFL legend with the New England Patriots, winning six Super Bowls. Now, with Belichick the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels, he’s reportedly enforcing a ban against scouts from the Patriots at UNC practices.

This comes after an awkward end to his time in New England. At the end of the 2023 season, Belichick and the Patriots parted ways, which was described as mutual. However, most believe he was forced out after tensions had flared between him and ownership about the end of Tom Brady’s time there, and the drop off in success the team had since Brady left.

Via John Middlekauff, the move was confirmed by multiple sources. According to Mike Florio, “the message sent by his consigliere, G.M. Mike Lombardi.” That amounts to a little bit of an awkward situation.

“Which is funny but also kind of embarrassing,” Middlekauff said. “Because Bill, for multiple decades, my guess is made over $200 million working for Robert Kraft. Became an absolute NFL legend, winning Super Bowls, going to Super Bowls, and just kicking the sh*t out of everybody with Tom Brady. Then, it got ugly and he lost and he got fired. You know what that’s called? Football… People get fired, but to ban the New England Patriots is like an FU to Robert Kraft.”

Belichick took a year away from coaching before landing at North Carolina. Since then, he’s run the program relatively secretively. He’s made life difficult for scouts, regardless of whether they’re from the Patriots or not. That included sharing blank two-deeps. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that it made it difficult for those scouts to know who to look at during their Week 1 game.

“One, North Carolina doesn’t have much talent right now. I understand being old, bitter, grouchy, and angry if life’s been sh*tty. If you’re lonely,” Middlekauff said. “If your financial situation’s bad, if you have no hope in life, just being miserable. That is understandable… But when you’re super rich and life’s going pretty well. Someone just paid you $10 million to coach the University of North Carolina when no one else would hire you… life’s not that sh*tty for Bill Belichick.”

North Carolina struggled in its first game under Belichick. TCU beat the Tar Heels 48-14. Those 48 points are the most any team Belichick has been the head coach of has ever allowed. Along the way, it became clear that the Tar Heels have some major holes in their roster. That’s with Thamel already sharing that only a couple of North Carolina players were looking at NFL futures as of now.

“I’ve been told there are really only two UNC players who are likely to be drafted this year,” Thamel said. “Pat just mentioned Thaddeus Dixon, the corner who came over from Washington. He’s one of them, and the other is named Marcus Allen. Dixon may be considered a Top-100 prospect, but, if Bill Belichick wants to build UNC, they have a long way to go from a pure talent perspective.”

For the time being, North Carolina needs to get good work in at practice. That’s just good work that the Patriots won’t be able to get a close look at moving forward, even as their starting quarterback, Drake Maye, came out of the program.