Tom Brady, Bill Belichick Hated Each Other
Tom Brady and New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick seemed like they hated each other towards the end of their relationship.
On Friday, Brady officially signed a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In doing so, he officially ended a partnership with the Patriots that had spanned two decades.
Naturally, many could not help but wonder: why would this happen?
Could the two sides involved really not come to terms on agreement that would keep Brady in New England until the end of his career?
Apparently not.
It appears that as Brady’s free agency approached, his relationship with the Patriots got increasingly more strained.
According to a recent piece by ESPN, Brady and Belichick had a “blowup” in 2017 over the former’s future with the organization. Although both sides moved past it in the short-term, clearly bad feelings lingered.
The meeting in 2017 paved the way for what transpired this past week.
“Brady made it clear that he was playing football until his mid-40s,” he wrote.
“He preferred to sign a deal to ensure that he retired a Patriot, but if the team refused, he was fine moving on. He wanted clarity. He met with Belichick, and the meeting ended with a ‘blowup,’ a source said.
“He met with Kraft. He got mixed signals. Team president Jonathan Kraft told NFL Network in January 2018 that Brady had ‘earned the right’ to decide when he wanted to stop playing for the team.
“On the other hand, that right never came in the form of a contract extension, at least not one Brady felt would last the rest of his career.”
Brady and Belichick would stay together for two more years after that – winning one additional Super Bowl in the process.
How many more championships could they have won together if they had opted to just stick it out until Brady’s retirement? That will go down as one of the great mysteries in NFL history.
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A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.