Bill Belichick is looking for a job. Peyton Manning wants to give him one.
Manning has confirmed that he’s hoping to hire Belichick to work for Omaha Productions in 2024.
“If it comes to fruition, I think fans will be excited to see how incredibly brilliant Bill Belichick is when talking about football and how witty and funny he is,” Manning tells Andrew Marchand of TheAthletic.com.
As Marchand recently reported, multiple networks have spoken to Belichick. The challenge for the former Patriots coach becomes picking the right spot for him to best boost his prospects for getting a head-coaching job in 2025, assuming he wants one. With seven non-Patriots vacancies in 2024, Belichick got only one interview. The challenge for the networks becomes embracing the reality that he might stick around for only one day.
It will be more complicated than it looks. Issues of power and the perception of power will complicate the internal dynamics for any team that considers him. Perhaps more importantly, a fan base will need to embrace the move. That part can be handled if Belichick is as engaging as Manning thinks he’ll be.
Manning knows how to be engaging. He’s done it so well that he’ll be in the booth for the Olympics opening ceremony on NBC, along with Mike Tirico and Kelly Clarkson. That was announced on Tuesday, and it will happen in July.