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Bill Belichick reportedly ‘never believed’ Tom Brady would do this with Patriots
The Patriots are now nine games under .500 since Tom Brady left the team in March 2020.
The post-Brady era has not been kind to the New England Patriots.
Since the legendary quarterback left Foxborough in March 2020, the Patriots are nine games under .500 with just one playoff appearance in four years.
Those lackluster returns ultimately cost Bill Belichick his job earlier this month, with the Patriots and their head coach opting to part ways following a 4-13 season in 2023.
Years of poor drafting and disastrous personnel moves played a major role in Belichick’s eventual exit, especially New England’s inability to have a proper contingency plan in place at quarterback once Brady left.
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But according to NBC Sports Boston’s Tom E. Curran, the reason why New England had few options available once Brady left was because Belichick didn’t think his quarterback was really going to leave Foxborough in free agency.
“Belichick never truly believed Brady would leave,” Curran wrote. “Even when the two men met just days before Brady’s contract expired, sources said Belichick said the Patriots couldn’t carry a salary cap hit of more than $22.5 million.”
A source told Curran: “(Belichick) talked to (Brady) like he was still on the team, not like he was about to be a free agent.”
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Of course, Belichick’s attempt to call Brady’s bluff backfired, as Brady signed a two-year, $50 million contract with the Buccaneers just a few days into free agency.
While New England went 7-9 with Cam Newton under center in 2020, Brady and the Bucs went 11-5 en route to a Super Bowl victory over the Chiefs.
Brady’s exit might have been shocking at the time, but the writing was on the wall that Brady and Belichick’s relationship was fractured by 2020.
“During his final years in New England, Brady was sick of being antagonized by his head coach,” Chad Graff of The Athletic wrote earlier this month in a story detailing Belichick’s exit. “Belichick was quick to critique Brady, often doing so in front of the entire team. That’s part of how he got so much success out of Brady, who was at his best when he played with a chip on his shoulder. That relationship yielded three MVP awards and nine Super Bowl appearances.
“But day after day, month after month, year after year, that lack of recognition wore on Brady, who vented to Kraft. At one point in his final season with the Patriots, Brady bemoaned that he was “the most miserable 8-0 quarterback in league history.”
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