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Tom Brady admitted that his exit from the New England Patriots was sparked by a “tension” with then-head coach Bill Belichick.
Brady, 47, who played quarterback for the Patriots under Belichick’s leadership from 2000 to 2019, detailed the pair’s dynamic in the Monday, March 24, edition of his weekly 199 newsletter.
“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,” Brady wrote. “It was the kind of tension that could only be resolved by some kind of split or one of us reassessing our priorities.”
The revelation came after Brady confirmed in the February 2024 documentary, The Dynasty, that having Belichick, 72, as his coach would fail to entice him back for a 21st season with the Patriots.
“Me and coach Belichick, we did what we loved and competed for 20 years together,” the seven-time Super Bowl champion said in the documentary, per The Athletic. “But I wasn’t going to sign another contract [in New England] even if I wanted to play until [I was] 50. Based on how things had gone, I wasn’t going to sign up for more of it.”
Brady’s newsletter detailed his decision to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020 after some careful consideration. “When Tampa Bay came into the picture as a serious option for me, all I did over those few days in March was assess and reassess my priorities,” Brady wrote, before adding that his family also factored into his decision. (Brady is father to three children: son, Jack, 17, whom he shares with ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynahan, as well as son, Benjamin, 15, and daughter, Vivien, 12, whom he shares with ex-wife Gisele Bündchen.)
“I asked myself, as someone headed into their forties with school-age kids and twenty years worth of battle scars, what truly mattered to me now?” Brady wrote. “What I ended up with was a list of about twenty things that I then ranked and graded on a weighted scale from 1 to 3.”
Despite Brady and Belichick’s controversial ending, Brady has expressed gratitude for Belichick and his time in New England, in which he won three MVP awards. When Belichick left the Patriots himself on January 11, 2024, Brady took to Instagram to pay tribute to him. (Belichick is now coaching college football at the University of North Carolina.)
“I’m incredibly grateful to have played for the best coach in the history of the NFL,” Brady shared that day via his account. “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.”
Brady continued, “He set the tone for the organization to never falter in the face of adversity, and to do what we could do, and what was in our control, which was to go out and DO OUR JOB. I could never have been the player I was without you Coach Belichick.”
