Tag: Michael Lombardi

UNC football general manager speaks on program’s new goals under Bill Belichick

If you want to be fired up about football season, hear what UNC football general manager Michael Lombardi had to say.

You never know what you’ll get watching North Carolina Tar Heels football, particularly with the 2024 regular season, in which North Carolina slumped to a 6-6 finish.

UNC continues to make bowl games – it’s playing UConn in the 2024 Fenway Bowl – but not championships. Despite making the 2015 and 2022 ACC Championships, North Carolina’s last conference title came in 1980.

With Bill Belichick now leading the Tar Heels, football in Chapel Hill is about to get a complete makeover.

UNC’s new general manager, Michael Lombardi, recently spoke about what he expects to see change on the football field.

“We’re not here to finish fourth in the ACC – we’re here to complete for championships,” Lombardi said.

North Carolina is Lombardi’s second stop as a general manager (Cleveland Browns in 2013), but he’s no stranger to Belichick. Lombardi was a New England Patriots “Assistant to the Coaching Staff” from 2014-2016, a stretch in which New England won two Super Bowls

If you don’t know it already, Belichick is the greatest football coach of all time. Belichick led the Patriots to six Super Bowls in 24 seasons (2000-2023), won AP NFL Coach of the Year Honors three times, plus he turned Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski into future Hall of Famers.

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Lombardi’s executive career spans long before his time up east, as he started with UNLV as a recruiting coordinator from 1981-1984.

Lombardi’s NFL journey began in 1984, when he worked as the San Francisco 49ers‘ scout, then he held that same role with the Cleveland Browns from 1987-1989.  Lombardi worked in Cleveland until 1995, split time with the Philadelphia Eagles, Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos, before coming back to Cleveland.

Can the Lombardi-Belichick duo, which previously won two Super Bowls in New England, lead the Tar Heels to the National Championship?

Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.

Bill Belichick’s first UNC staffer takes jab at Jaguars

Bill Belichick’s first UNC staffer takes jab at Jaguars

If the Jaguars wanted to replace Doug Pederson with the greatest head coach in NFL history this offseason, they missed their opportunity as Bill Belichick transformatively took the same position with the University of North Carolina on Wednesday, his first job in college football.

Of course, Jacksonville was never officially linked with Belichick. But as the Jaguars’ nightmare of a 3-10 season has inched on, NFL reporters far and wide considered the team and coach a potential future pair.

And if Belichick’s first hire to help manage the Tar Heels would have followed the head coach to Jacksonville in this hypothetical scenario, he made clear he would have done things differently than how he perceives the Jaguars have historically operated.

On ESPN’s Pat McAfee Show Wednesday, new North Carolina general manager Michael Lombardi took a jab at the Jaguars while discussing his and Belichick’s plan to utilize the NCAA transfer portal as they rebuild UNC’s roster.


Likening the portal to NFL free agency, given the influence of Name, Image and Likeness in transfer recruiting, Lombardi referenced the Jaguars’ history of spending big in free agency and far from stellar draft record to emphasize his and Belichick’s desire to primarily acquire and develop players from the often less-expensive high school ranks.

Well, if you want to play for the greatest coach of all time and you want to be around a winning program, please enter the portal. We’ll take you. We’re going to go through it deeply. This is an advertisement for it. We’re going to go deep into it because we’re going to rebuild the team, and I think it’s important. I don’t think it’s just about — this is team building. This isn’t adding players, right? We’re going to systematically and strategically build the team the right way so that we have sustainable success, so that you can compete at the highest level of college football. I think that’s really important.

I think everybody makes too much about the cap. Certainly the players deserve to get paid, but more into the cap, there’s two things that involve the cap. It involves, how do we develop players to become good players, and how do we pay the players that already are good players? So there is two systems that are going on simultaneously and you need a head coach like coach Belichick who understands that. Player development is the key to salary cap. We’ve seen this. The Jacksonville Jaguars have done this for years. They buy players, they haven’t won enough games. You have got to develop your own players from within.

Lombardi reunites with Belichick after eight years out of football. The two previously worked together for the New England Patriots (2014-16) and Cleveland Browns (1991-95), with Belichick operating as head coach and Lombardi in various personnel roles.

UNC football hires longtime NFL executive as its next general manager

A former NFL general manager joins Bill Belichick in Chapel Hill.

There are bound to be plenty of ripple effects making their way through the UNC football program in the coming days, as UNC hired Bill Belichick as its next head football coach on Wednesday, December 11.

We quickly learned about one of those effects from Belichick’s hiring, with North Carolina hiring longtime NFL executive Michael Lombardi as its general manager.

Lombardi started his NFL career as a San Francisco 49ers scout back in 1984, but most recently, he worked with Belichick as the New England Patriots‘ “Assistant to the Coaching Staff” from 2014-2016. Lombardi also has previous general manager experience, leading the Cleveland Browns during their 2013 NFL season.

After his extensive run through the NFL, Lombardi spent several years on television. Lombardi’s biggest stops were at CBS Sports and the NFL Network, with his most recent at VSiN (Vegas Sports Information Network).

Belichick, arguably the greatest coach of all time across all football levels, won six Super Bowls in his 24 years leading the New England Patriots. Belichick is also a 3-time AP NFL Coach of the Year, plus he coached the greatest football player of all time in Tom Brady.

The Tar Heels immediately become a college football threat with Belichick’s hiring. Sure, UNC has to play a game under Belichick first, but I am confident this hire will work out.

Having someone like Lombardi make decisions in North Carolina is also a big win. Belichick wants to turn UNC into an “NFL-style” program – and what better person to help him achieve that goal than Lombardi, a previous NFL GM?

Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.

Former Patriots staffer reportedly joining Bill Belichick at UNC

Bill Belichick is bringing backup with him to North Carolina

Bill Belichick is reportedly finalizing a deal to be the next head coach at the University of North Carolina, and it looks like he isn’t going alone.

Former Patriots assistant to the coaching staff Michael Lombardi is leaving VSiN to serve as the new general manager at North Carolina. VSiN revealed the news in a social media statement on Wednesday.

“VSiN host @mlombardiNFL leaving to join Bill Belichick at the University of North Carolina,” the statement read. “Lombardi will serve as the football program’s GM. We wish him the best!”

Inside Carolina reported on Wednesday that Carolina and Belichick were closing in on a deal. Per The Athletic, it’s a five-year, $50 million deal for Belichick, who will be 73 years old when he stands on the Tar Heels sideline for the first time.

Coaching at the collegiate level will be a different challenge with recruiting, NIL, and the fact that Belichick will go from coaching grown men to kids out of high school.

But if anyone can make the jump, it would be a six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach.

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Ex-NFL GM believes Giants have wrong approach for success

Former NFL general manager Michael Lombardi, a long-time New York Giants critic, is taking shots at their roster-building process again.

This week, New York Giants co-owner John Mara committed to general manager Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll despite their second 2-5 start in as many years.

The regime Mara is hanging his hat on is 17-23-1 since taking over the club in 2022. They began by winning six of their first seven games that year and eked into the playoffs, but since that streak, their record is 11-22-1.

Most new general managers and coaches concentrate on beating the teams they need to beat to win their division. In the Giants’ case that would be the NFC East rivals: Dallas, Philadelphia, and Washington.

Since Schoen and Daboll took over the Giants are 0-5 against Dallas, 1-5 (including playoffs) versus Philly, and 3-1-1 against Washington but lost their first game versus them this season with Jayden Daniels under center and Dan Quinn as the head coach.

Former NFL executive Michael Lombardi pointed out on the Pat McAfee Show this week that the Giants — Mara, Schoen, and Daboll — aren’t preparing themselves for success, which begins by winning games within the division.

“You win the division, obviously, and you get in the dance and have a home playoff game,” said McAfee. “And anything can happen from there.”

Referring to the footage aired by HBO’s Hard Knocks, Lombardi and McAfee were both shocked at how the Giants brass made their plans to build their roster for the season.

“They never said one time in the entire Hard Knocks, ‘How do we beat Philly? How do we beat Dallas?'” Lombardi said.

When they decided to trade for Carolina Panthers Pro Bowl defensive end Brian Burns, which was highlighted in the docuseries, Lombardi pointed out that the group never discussed Burns’ performance against their NFC rivals.

“That’s the stuff we (general managers) talk about and it wasn’t there,” he said. “It looks like people were doing their fantasy draft … and that’s offensive to me.”

The numbers don’t lie. In the NFL results are what counts. No one cares how smart you are or think you are. If you don’t win, you’re out.

Daboll and Schoen are safe for now but one wonders if they can’t even match last year’s win total of six this year, will Mara still feel the same?

“I think you focus on what you can control, and I’ve said this numerous times, we have a very good communication process, a good relationship,” said Daboll. “Again, nobody’s happy about the results or the record, but the communication and the process and the people, I believe in them.”

It’s sink or swim time for this latest version of the Giants front office.

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Michael Lombardi: Giants’ Joe Schoen ‘insulting to my profession’

Former NFL executive Michael Lombardi says New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen is “‘insulting to my profession.”

Former Cleveland Browns general manager and Philadelphia Eagles director of pro personnel, Michael Lombardi, has never been shy about his criticisms of the New York Giants. They have persisted for many years.

Those criticisms continued on Monday, this time with Lombardi taking specific aim at current Giants general manager Joe Schoen.

During the latest episode of The GM Shuffle podcast with Lombardi, the former executive looked back on “Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants” and took personal offense to what he saw.

“When you watch that, there were no models, there was no, ‘How are we building this team?’ It was really amateur hour,” Lombardi said. “What it did, it was insulting to my profession. It made people (who) hang out at sports bars think they can be a GM. So, to me, it was really embarrassing.”

Lombardi went on to suggest that fans have quit on Schoen, no longer have any confidence in him as general manager, and they are aware his product is no good.

Perhaps some of that is projection, but there may also be a level of truth to it.

“I feel bad for the Giants fans. I really do because I don’t see how it gets better,” Lombardi said. “How are they getting to five wins?”

Lombardi went on to praise head coach Brian Daboll as a friend but suggested he stands no chance in New York due to the construction of the team. It doesn’t matter how good of a coach he is, the former GM says, because he has nothing to work with.

“You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken (expletive),” Lombardi added.

From Ben McAdoo to Pat Shurmur to Joe Judge to Daboll, it’s all been a mess. And although Dabes may be his friend, Lombardi feels it’s time for a professional to take over in East Rutherford.

Could that be where this franchise is headed? More regime turnover? It’s a never-ending cycle.

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Ex-NFL GM trashes Giants after premiere of ‘Hard Knocks’

A former NFL GM slammed the New York Giants after their “Hard Knocks” debut, claiming they lack an identity and will continue to fail.

On Tuesday night, “Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants” premiered on HBO and peeled back the curtain on the Joe Schoen-Brian Daboll regime a bit.

There were several notable takeaways from the 40-minute episode, as well as some under-the-radar moments. However, how the show was interpreted varies from fan to fan and from analyst to analyst.

In the mind of former NFL general manager Michael Lombardi, who is often critical of the Giants, it showed a franchise without an identity.

During Wednesday’s edition of the Lombardi Line podcast, Lombardi began his critique by slamming Schoen and the Giants for their continued commitment to quarterback Daniel Jones.

“To me, there’s a disconnect,” Lombardi said. “There was a sense. . . that somewhere on some tape that I can’t find that Daniel Jones has played above the line. I can’t find that tape. I don’t see it.

“They act like if he’s healthy, (they’re) going to be really good. And I’m missing that. So, for me, that was a hard thing to understand and get my arms around.”

Lombardi also argued that the Giants have gotten away from what has worked for them historically, namely the process put in place by the late George Young. The further removed the organization has gotten from that, the more failure and turnover they have experienced.

“They’ve gone through so many coaches and they’ve gone through so many staffs, that the staffs are now instituting the philosophical nature of the company and that’s when companies often fail,” Lombardi said.

Things aren’t going to get any better for the Giants in Lombardi’s eyes. He doesn’t believe Schoen has the proper power structure in place and argues that there are too many opinions being shared around the table.

“When you’ve got that many people involved in decision-making, you’re going to make a bad decision. You’ve got too many opinions,” Lombardi said. “There should be a pyramid of opinions. . . They really don’t know who they are. They don’t know what a Giant player is. To me, that’s the biggest problem I took away from (the show).

“What is a Giant player? Like, who are we? What is our identity? You can’t get that from Shane Bowen. You can’t get that from Mike Kafka. You have to have an identity from who you are as a team.”

Lombardi continued, claiming the Giants are lost at sea without an identity.

“If you don’t know who you are, how the hell do you find players out there who can fix it?” he said. “To me, it was about ‘we’re picking players here. We’re just picking players here.’ There was no real conversation about what wins in the league because the Giants had that formula for years.

“If you’re wondering why they’re not being successful, I think it’s because they don’t have an overall philosophical belief in who they are as a football team.”

If what Lombardi says proves to be true, it won’t be long before the Giants are back on the market looking for a new general manager and head coach.

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Former Patriots assistant questions Mac Jones’ likeability in locker room

Is there a disconnect between Mac Jones and his teammates? One former Patriots assistant believes so.

Former New England Patriots assistant Michael Lombardi believes Mac Jones isn’t well-liked in the locker room, which has only added to the problems he’s having right now on the football field.

He pointed to examples such as Jones’ teammates having “no sense of energy,” when talking about him. Lombardi also believes that the quarterback “blames everybody through his body language, through his mechanics.”

“Nobody wants to hang out with Mac Jones,” Lombardi said on his “GM Shuffle” podcast, as transcribed by Boston.com. “Nobody wants to hang out with him. You can see it on these teams. So when you see a bad quarterback like (Tommy) DeVito — they’ll hang out with him. They’ll go over to his house and have chicken parm. Like, they like him. He’s no good — they like him, though. And I think that’s where we lose sight of it a little bit when we’re evaluating these quarterbacks. Because what is the likability of the player?”

Jones has had a difficult season overall. He has thrown for 2,120 yards, 10 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. There’s a chance he won’t even start in this week’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Yet, despite all of the noise surrounding Jones, his teammates continue to back him in front of the media.

New England could have a chance to revamp the quarterback position in the 2024 NFL draft. Currently, they hold the third overall selection for next April’s event.

At this point, a change of scenery for both Jones and the Patriots organization may do some good.

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Michael Lombardi blasts Commanders HC Ron Rivera

Lombardi does think Sam Howell will be a lot better than Washington’s QBs last season and therefore, win more games.

Former NFL executive Michael Lombardi is not very impressed with Ron Rivera right now.

Lombardi, who was an NFL scout, player personnel director and general manager, offered sharp criticisms of Rivera when he was a guest on the “Grant and Danny Show” on Thursday.

Lombardi expressed that the Commanders really struggled in the 2022 season primarily because of the struggles of their quarterbacks Carson Wentz and then Taylor Heinicke.

As a result, Lombardi does not understand/agree with the Commanders over/ under on 2023 wins, only being at 6.5. He was adamant he believes Sam Howell will be a better quarterback than what they had in 2022.

“How much worse could Howell be than those two guys? He can’t be any worse.”

Lombardi pointed to three items that he thinks reflect poorly on Rivera. Not knowing they could be eliminated from the playoffs following the loss to the Browns, his statements regarding Eric Bieniemy during training camp and now admitting he didn’t realize in 2022 what Sam Howell could do.

“What it does is it shows he was seeing practice but was not observing practice. People that are only seeing don’t get anywhere.”

Lombardi pointed out that Rivera has all the authority, and can make any move he wants to make.

Lombardi feels this reveals there is not enough observation and interaction with Rivera’s assistants regarding the player personnel.

Rivera even became the butt of Lombardi’s jokes as Lombardi compared Rivera to Jedd Clampett of the old Beverly Hillbillies, luckily striking oil.

“The quarterback of the Washington Commanders was costing them games. That’s pretty clear. Lombardi pointed in particular to the 2022 loss to the Titans “because the quarterback couldn’t make a play.”

He was emphatic that Wentz was killing the Commanders in games last year. He also pointed to Heinicke struggling and that Rivera should have noticed what Howell was doing on the scout team last season.

“New Commanders owner Josh Harris should be concerned now,” expressed Lombardi. He asked, “Did the 2022 coaching staff have a meeting after the first quarter of the season to discuss everyone on the roster?”

Were the Commanders making notes of the players on the scout teams, observing their progression and or regression? “But if you are not paying attention to it, if you are not aware of it. You’re the general manager of the team. That is not a good look for you,” declared Lombardi referring to Rivera.

There was more, but the overall tone was that Lombardi feels Rivera has revealed he is not working hard enough and not communicating enough with his staff concerning their roster and player personnel.

Lombardi was quick to qualify his comments, stating Rivera is a good man; he was not attacking Rivera as a person. He did reassert he is questioning Rivera as a businessman.

NFL fans ripped Michael Lombardi for his wildly insensitive comments on Trey Lance’s future with 49ers

What are you talking about, Michael Lombardi?

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Trey Lance certainly has an uncertain future in the NFL, as it looks like he’s competing for the 49ers backup job right now.

Kyle Shanahan bluntly confirmed this week that quarterback Brock Purdy should hold down the team’s starting gig, which may mean that Lance eventually ends up elsewhere in the NFL to contend for a starting job.

However, his situation is far more complex than whatever former NFL general manager Michael Lombardi seems to think about it.

Discussing Lance’s future on his DraftKings show The GM Shuffle, Lombardi made some ridiculously unfair assessments of the quarterback’s general abilities and flatly says that Lance doesn’t have “quarterback instinct.”

“As you go down this road with Lance, it just becomes harder and harder and harder,” Lombardi said on his show, “and you can show all the clips of him moving and all that stuff. At the end of the day when his momma lifted him from the crib, he just didn’t have that quarterback instinct.

“He is not going to be the backup quarterback. I don’t know what they’re going to do with him, but there’s no chance. There is no chance based on the evidence that I’ve seen and based on what I’ve heard.”

While no one can say for certain that Lance will be able to win a starting NFL job one day, trying to obliterate the basic quarterback instinct that earned him being drafted so high in 2021 is just incorrect.

Lance had plenty of quarterback instincts when he was tearing it up at North Dakota State, and it’s not Lance’s fault that his career has been riddled with injuries so far.

He would’ve started a full season last fall had he not gotten hurt, and it’s not on Lance that the 49ers want to roll with Purdy this fall after the latter played so well.

Plus, the backup quarterback battle definitely isn’t over in San Francisco. Sam Darnold has struggled since being taken at the same pick as Lance, but we don’t hear Lombardi critiquing Darnold’s quarterback instincts.

The jury is still out on how Lance will be as an NFL quarterback, which is far more judicious than Lombardi’s wildly off-base hot takes about the quarterback.

As you can imagine, NFL fans ripped Lombardi for this take.