Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles has brought his team to the playoffs three years in a row and won the NFC South all three times, but could he be on the way out in lieu of a legendary NFL head coach?

Probably not. But that hasn’t stopped one big NFL name from putting it in the air.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio recently put out an article toward the beginning of the month that suggested North Carolina head coach and six-time Super Bowl winner Bill Belichick might be interested in coaching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Belichick is currently set to coach the Tar Heels in 2025, but a controversy regarding his girlfriend Jordan Hudson’s involvement in the program and his buyout down to just $1 million, Florio wrote that the Bucs, who have made some interesting coaching decisions in the past, could be on Belichick’s radar.

Florio noted that Tar Heels GM Mike Lombardi began to spread an untrue rumor that Todd Bowles was looking to retire, and wondered why he would do that if he wasn’t trying to open up a spot.

“So why would Lombardi be trying to speak a vacancy into existence? Maybe because that’s one of the jobs Belichick would want,” Florio wrote. “Even with all of the craziness that has happened of late, the Bucs can’t be ruled out as a potential destination for Belichick.”

North Carolina Tar Heels head football coach Bill Belichick is introduced during half time at Dean E. Smith Center. / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Florio reiterated this take on a recent appearance of Pardon My Take, but this time, he started it off by admitting that the idea is morseo “fan fiction” than actually on the table.

“Allow me to weave my fan fiction. Belichick’s consigliere Mike Lombardi, who is basically his unofficial mouthpiece, has been very quiet since all of the [Belichick’s girlfriend] Jordan Hudson stuff hit the fan,” Florio said. “Lombardi wouldn’t shut up until this Hudson stuff happens, and now you can’t find him anywhere. But he was putting out this idea that Todd Bowles would retire, possibly after the 2024 season… “So I feel like Belichick has been eyeballing the Bucs. Maybe Lombardi was trying to speak it into existence that there’d be a vacancy there, because that’s one of the teams where they’ve got the talent Belichick needs.”

Two things would have to be true for this all to come together — Todd Bowles would have to get fired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Bill Belichick would have to be interested in taking that job afterward. So how likely are these two things, anyway?

Todd Bowles has faced some criticism for a lackluster defense, close calls to win the division and three midseason lulls in a row that saw the Bucs have to climb their way out of a hole. They won the division every time from those lulls, however, and the Bucs have a playoff win in 2023 over the Philadelphia Eagles. Bucs players adore Bowles, so it seems like a firing would be very unlikely even if the team happens to drop quite a few games in 2025. Barring a collapse of epic proportions, Bowles is likely Tampa Bay’s coach in 2026.

But let’s say that does happen — would Bill Belichick even want to be the head coach of the Buccaneers? Florio’s evidence of Lombari creating a retirement rumor is at least compelling, but Belichick signed a five-year deal with North Carolina that includes three years guaranteed. There’s a lot of commotion going on right now due to his relationship with Hudson, but he has yet to even coach a down for UNC. His NFL pedigree has pundits longing for a return to the big leagues even before he’s coached in college — he might even like it at that level.

All-in-all, the rumor doesn’t have a lot of legs. Both sides of the coin don’t like distractions, and Todd Bowles is set to try and win a championship in 2025 while Bill Belichick is preparing his program for a run at an ACC title and beyond.