Bill Belichick might be coaching at the college level now. But the eight-time Super Bowl champion still has some thoughts about what’s best for the NFL.
Making his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday, Belichick discussed the chaos that the New York Giants’ win over the Indianapolis Colts caused to the 2025 NFL Draft order, giving his former team, the New England Patriots, the inside track to the No. 1 overall pick. And in doing so, the North Carolina head coach suggested that his former league adopt a draft lottery system similar to the one used by the NBA in order to prevent teams from tanking.
“I was never involved in [tanking] but I don’t know what happens somewhere else. It’s different than the NBA. The NBA kind of rectified that by having a lottery. So even if you’re the worst team, you’re not guaranteed the first pick,” Belichick said. “In the NFL, that’s not quite the case. If you are the worst team, you do get the first pick.
“Personally, I don’t think it would be a bad idea for the competitiveness of the sport to do something similar to what basketball does with those lottery picks. Then we wouldn’t be having this conversation — well we might be having it, but there’d be other circumstances besides just your record. There’d be actually a lottery part of it. But that’s not a decision for me to make, that’s just a suggestion.”
To the latter half of Belichick’s point, the draft lottery system has hardly eradicated tanking in the NBA — although when coupled with the implementation of the Play-In Tournament, one could argue it has helped reduce its prevalence in the league. Ultimately most (albeit not all) teams are self-aware enough to know whether they’re capable of contending and draft positioning will inevitably always be a part of the conversation for those that aren’t.
But even if a draft lottery doesn’t completely eliminate tanking, Belichick’s larger point seems to be there would be competitive benefits to not giving teams a direct path to the No. 1 overall pick — especially in years where there’s a clearcut No. 1 overall quarterback prospect.
That, however may also be the very reason why the NFL won’t follow the NBA’s lead, as it’s hard to imagine the league’s owners agreeing to a proposal that could negatively two of its biggest selling points to fans: hope and parity.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.