Early life Lombardi grew up in
Ocean City, New Jersey and played both baseball and football at
Valley Forge Military Academy. He attended Hofstra University from 1977 to 1981, where he played
defensive lineman and
long snapper for the football team.
Early career In 1981, Lombardi was hired as a recruiting coordinator at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas by Rebels' head coach
Harvey Hyde. He claimed credit for the initial discovery and scouting of Hall of Famer
Charles Haley, who was drafted by San Francisco 49ers in
1986 NFL draft, but this claim is disputed by Walsh's son, Craig. Lombardi joined the Cleveland Browns organization as pro personnel director in 1987. Later, he became the Browns' director of player personnel and worked under head coach
Bill Belichick managing drafts, negotiating contracts and acquiring free agents. In 1997,
Philadelphia Eagles President
Joe Banner hired Lombardi as a consultant to assist with the
1997 NFL draft. Banner then named Lombardi director of pro personnel of the Eagles in 1998. During his tenure with the Raiders, Oakland won three consecutive
AFC West titles and advanced to
Super Bowl XXXVII. He was hired for that position five months later. On February 11, 2014, the Browns replaced Lombardi with
Ray Farmer. From 2014 to 2016, Lombardi worked under
Bill Belichick of the
New England Patriots as an assistant to the coaching staff. Speaking about Lombardi's time in New England, Belichick said, "Mike's...one of the smartest people I've worked with. He was huge asset to me for the two years he was here...he studies football and he knows it very well." Lombardi has worked as an administrator in the NFL for over 30 years and has worked for
Bill Walsh,
Al Davis and
Bill Belichick. Sports and pop culture essayist
Chuck Klosterman described Lombardi as, "a detail freak and a polymath, or at least a person successfully attempting to impersonate one" after spending time with him at the Cleveland Browns facility in the hours leading up to the
2013 NFL draft. Lombardi has also been described as, "one of the most quiet but influential executives in the NFL." He has been credited as one of the first NFL executives to study the science of scouting players for
moral character.
College On December 11, 2024, Lombardi accepted a position to become the general manager for the North Carolina Tar Heels, reuniting him with Bill Belichick.
Broadcasting As a broadcaster, Lombardi has worked for
ESPN,
CBS Sports,
Showtime, the
NFL Network and
Fox Sports. He began his career as a member of the media in 1996 when he spent part of that year as an NFL draft analyst for ESPN. He also spent portions of 1998 and 1999 as an editorial consultant and studio analyst for CBS Sports as on-air talent for the
NFL Today pre-game show. That same year, Lombardi began contributing to several
NFL Network shows, including as an in-studio analyst and reporting live from individual games. Lombardi was hired by Fox Sports in September 2016. When he joined Fox, national networks president Jamie Horowitz said in a statement, "Michael is a thought-provoking and insightful football analyst with an impressive résumé. We feel like his blunt approach and original perspective makes the FS1 shows more interesting, and the fans of those shows more informed." In January 2017, Lombardi took a position with
The Ringer where he hosted the "GM Street" podcast with Tate Frazier and also wrote articles on occasion for the website. He announced via Twitter in March 2019 that he had left The Ringer to work on his own podcast. He currently hosts The GM Shuffle podcast with Femi Abebefe and co-hosts a program called The Lombardi Line for VSiN
Vegas Stats & Information Network. In September 2017, Lombardi made headlines by criticizing Philadelphia Eagles coach
Doug Pederson: "He might be less qualified to coach a team than anyone I’ve ever seen in my 30-plus years in the NFL." In the following season, Pederson won
Super Bowl LII. In 2020, Lombardi became a co-host on
Hammer Dahn, a gambling podcast from
Pat McAfee Inc. From September 2024 through January 2025, Lombardi hosted a podcast with Belichick about the NFL called Coach with Bill Belichick.
Writing Lombardi has written two books.
Gridiron Genius: A Master Class in Winning Championships and Building Dynasties in the NFL was published in September 2018. His second book was published in September 2023 and is called
Football Done Right: Setting the Record Straight on the Coaches, Players, and History of the NFL. ==Personal life==