On Wednesday, NFL Media reported that multiple teams, including the Raiders, have contacted North Carolina coach Bill Belichick to inquire as to whether he would reconsider his move to college football.

Belichick has said nothing about the report. On Thursday, UNC General Manager (and Belichick consigliere) Mike Lombardi called the report “a complete falsehood” during an appearance on Pat McAfee’s show.

McAfee specifically asked Lombardi whether he and Belichick are committed to the Tar Heels.

“Completely committed,” Lombardi said. “One thousand percent committed. I know I — for coach Belichick and myself, those conversations — you know, look, guys that do the insider stuff for the NFL, they’ve gotta put stories out there. That one was a complete falsehood. Coach Belichick, when that story came out, was recruiting in South Jersey. And today he was at Bergen Catholic, one of the teams we watched play at Ocean City. You know, and he’s gone to the Hun School to recruit kids in Princeton. I mean, that story just had no legs.”

The story Lombardi called a “complete falsehood” wasn’t that Belichick would leave. It was simply that multiple teams have asked Belichick whether he would consider leaving. So, technically, Lombardi is insisting that no NFL teams with vacancies have any interest whatsoever in Belichick.

That said, Lombardi seemed to be specifically targeting the implication that Tom Brady’s reported conversation with Belichick was about Belichick coaching the Raiders.

“I think what often happens in rumoring — and I know this from doing it in the league — is people try to make a connection: A to B equals C,” Lombardi said. “Well that’s not always the case. Yes, Tom Brady is being involved with interviews. Yes, Tom Brady is doing research on head-coaching candidates. Yes, Tom Brady is calling people up for advice and counsel because that’s why he’s so great at what he does, because he’s listening for advice. But don’t assume that that’s because he’s doing that he wants Bill Belichick.

“Bill Belichick committed to North Carolina. He committed it to me. He committed it to the university. There’s been no conversation about anything. And we drive from this office here, this football field behind me, to where we’re staying. We commute each day together. And we both talk about how messed up the NFL is and how thankful we’re in college football. Because we’re shaking our heads. . . . I mean, this is the best job we could have at the time of our lives and we’re gonna really embrace it and we’re gonna work hard to make North Carolina proud.”

First, Belichick’s “commitment” to North Carolina includes a $10 million off ramp that plunges by 90 percent, to $1 million, on June 1, 2025. As we’ve said repeatedly, the buyout clause didn’t spontaneously emerge in Belichick’s contract; it was negotiated. If he wanted to make a full and complete and unconditional commitment, there would be no buyout.

Second, does Belichick really want Lombardi to be publicly trashing the NFL as being “messed up”? Belichick seems to have reached that conclusion only after he went 0-for-7 with job offers last year, after being fired by the Patriots. If an owner was smart enough to hire the greatest coach in football history (as Lombardi constantly calls him) and get out of his way, the NFL suddenly wouldn’t be quite so “messed up.”

Unless and until Belichick revises the contract to remove the buyout, his path to the NFL will remain. And it will be a lot cheaper for him to make the jump back to the big leagues in fewer than five months.

As long as that clause remains, nothing Lombardi says matter. Even if Belichick were to declare “I’m not going to not be the North Carolina coach,” his contract would contain the escape hatch that he undoubtedly requested.