Tom Brady leaving Patriots was ‘right thing for him to do’

The New England Patriots’ two-decade dynasty got here to a detailed in March 2020 after Tom Brady left New England to signal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

It was a devastating shift of fortunes for New England and head coach Invoice Belichick, with the Patriots going 29-38 over the subsequent 4 seasons with only one playoff look earlier than Belichick and New England “parted ways” in January 2024. 

​In the meantime, Brady performed one other three seasons in Tampa, profitable Tremendous Bowl LV over the Chiefs in January 2021 and persevering with to play at a excessive degree as much as his retirement after the 2022 season.

Over his three years in Tampa, Brady accomplished 66.7 p.c of his passes for 14,643 yards with 108 touchdowns and 33 interceptions. He completed in second place in MVP voting in 2021.

Brady’s exit from New England whereas nonetheless having lots left within the tank was a disastrous growth for the Patriots and Belichick.

However, talking on Fox News Media’s “Hang Out with Sean Hannity” on Tuesday morning, Belichick mentioned that Brady’s determination to go away for one more crew was the correct name for the legendary QB.

“Tom leaving was completely the correct factor for him to do,” Belichick mentioned. “We didn’t have a very good crew in 2020. We simply didn’t have a very good soccer crew. We had all these guys that left — [Rob] Gronkowski and [Julian] Edelman. Most of our crew was gone. [Devin] McCourty and some others have been nonetheless there, however they have been about to go too. We have been simply on the finish.

“And truthfully, I used to be blissful for him that issues labored out nicely for him in Tampa, as a result of he was with a crew … after which he went on and received. That made me blissful for him, as a result of Tom — it wouldn’t have gone nicely in 2020 in New England. On this, I can assure that.”

​Belichick’s feedback concerning the state of the Patriots after the 2019 season have been legitimate — with Brady’s odds of main a respectable Tremendous Bowl contender in New England all however dashed had he stayed for the previous few seasons of his profession.

​Nevertheless, Belichick’s personal personnel choices performed a big half in Brady’s eventual exit, with New England’s lackluster roster by 2019 a direct results of years of poor drafting by Belichick because the franchise’s high government when it got here to roster administration.

In 2019 alone, the choice to pick N’Keal Harry with the thirty second general decide over future star wideouts like A.J. Brown or Deebo Samuel gave Brady few receiving targets to show to throughout his remaining 12 months in Foxborough.

​“We put every part we had into the 2019 season, together with paying him some huge cash on the finish of the 12 months with out something hooked up to it,” Belichick mentioned of Brady. “There was no first proper of refusal, there was no franchise tag, nothing. And so all of us understood that there was a very good probability he would depart. And I feel he made an important profession determination, clearly.

“I want we may have carried out extra, however we went so far as we may. And look, he proved it — he performed longer than anyone, performed at the next degree than anyone. And once more, great credit score to him. No person else did that — that was him.”

In a put up in his publication from March 2025, Brady additionally acknowledged that “pure stress” with Belichick led to his determination to finish his profession elsewhere — and that such an exit was within the works for 2 or three years earlier than the 2020 marketing campaign started.

“The truth was, after twenty years collectively, a pure stress had developed between the place Coach Belichick and I have been headed in our careers, and the place the Patriots have been shifting as a franchise,” Brady wrote. “It was the type of stress that would solely be resolved by some type of break up or certainly one of us reassessing our priorities.”

Regardless of Brady’s rocky exit in New England, each the previous Patriots QB and head coach seemingly have been on good phrases since their respective tenures in Foxborough got here to a detailed. Belichick returned to Gillette Stadium for Brady’s Patriots Hall of Fame ceremony in June 2024. 

Chatting with Hannity, Belichick continued to supply up reward for a way Brady performed himself over his 20 seasons with New England.

“I discovered a lot from Tom. I by no means performed quarterback,” Belichick mentioned. “Tom noticed the sport by way of a quarterback’s eyes. I noticed the video games by way of a coach’s eyes. Collectively, I feel we each discovered rather a lot from one another. Tom, how defensive coaches checked out him or checked out offense. Me, on what a quarterback can do and what he can’t do, what’s exhausting, what’s straightforward, what I can see, what I can’t see, and the way you see the sport.​

“Tom wasn’t a dominant persona. He was only a nice chief,” Belichick later added. “He would do no matter you requested him to do. Truthfully, if you happen to informed him to go on the market and run a reverse and block the defensive finish, he’d go block the defensive finish. He’d do regardless of the crew wanted him to do, and he was very aggressive.”

 

Conor Ryan is a workers author protecting the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Crimson Sox for Boston.com, a job he has held since 2023.