Tom Brady acknowledged that his relationship with Bill Belichick played a role in him leaving the New England Patriots.
In his weekly newsletter, the iconic quarterback recalled signing with the Tampa Bay Bay Buccaneers as a free agent in 2020. Brady won six Super Bowls in 20 seasons before concluding his career elsewhere.
“For me, it was a creeping decision that lived passively in the back of [my] mind for 2-3 years until March of 2020 when a whirlwind of a few days made me realize that a decision was coming sooner rather than later,” Brady wrote. “The reality was, after twenty years together, a natural tension had developed between where Coach Belichick and I were headed in our careers, and where the Patriots were moving as a franchise. It was the kind of tension that could only be resolved by some kind of split or one of us reassessing our priorities.”
Brady made a list of his most important factors and ranked each on a scale of one of three. He graded Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians a three.
“In the end, I chose Tampa, almost exactly five years ago now, because, in the aggregate, it graded out higher than New England along those twenty or so dimensions,” Brady said. “It’s not much more complicated than that.”
Brady’s revelation about Belichick isn’t shocking. During the Dynasty documentary series, Patriots owner Robert Kraft noted “clear” tension between the quarterback and coach, claiming it got “totally dysfunctional” to the point where they stopped speaking to each other.
However, it appears any hard feelings between the two have subsided since they stopped working together.
The legendary duo have often praised each other publicly. Brady wrote a lengthy message to Belichick after the coach parted ways with New England following the 2023 season.
“I’m incredibly grateful to have played for the best coach in the history of the NFL,” Brady said of Belichick. “He was a great leader for the organization, and for all of the players who played for him. We accomplished some amazing things over a long period of time, many of which will be hard to replicate.”
Belichick proposed re-naming the Lombardi Trophy after Brady, which they discussed while appearing together on the Let’s Go podcast. The 72-year-old was a guest at Brady’s Netflix roast, and rumors even surfaced of the Las Vegas Raiders owner reaching out to Belichick during the team’s head coaching search.