In March 2020, Brady surprised everyone by signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He spent 20 years with the New England Patriots and helped them win six Super Bowls.
There were rumors that Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, the Patriots head coach, were both in the Super Bowl. They were not getting along. Some people also think that after 20 years together, they were just done with each other. In the world of professional sports, that’s a long time together.
There Are A Lot Of Different Things Going On Here
When we answer the following question, we’ll look at all of them:
Why did Tom Brady quit the New England Patriots?
What Tom Brady’s contract is in 2019 and 2020
It is one thing we need to think about when trying to figure out why Brady left the Patriots. The seven-time Super Bowl winner did not do it just for the money.
In fact, at $25 million a year, Brady’s average salary is 15th among NFL quarterbacks, behind players like Jared Goff and Jimmy Garoppolo. They knew this was true when Tampa Bay gave him that two-year, $50 million deal.
For Brady, it was all about putting together a team that could go to the Super Bowl and making a long-term commitment. When Brady left New England, reports said he wanted the Patriots to make that promise. Brady reportedly left $60 million on the table to help the Patriots win the Super Bowl.
By the time the offseason for the 2020 season started, it seemed like Brady was tired of making sacrifices. During the offseason of 2019, Brady asked the Patriots for a longer-term contract.
It never turned out that way. Instead, New England changed Brady’s contract to save salary cap space for 2019. In exchange, the Patriots promised GOAT that he wouldn’t be given the franchise tag in March 2020. So, that’s why he went to the open market.
Why did Tom Brady quit the New England Patriots? He wanted more input on the team’s roster and fought with Bill Belichick.
In addition to problems with his contract, it became clear that Brady was upset about not having a real say in how the team was put together. Belichick is in charge of the Patriots as a whole. He kept making decisions about the team’s roster and barely talked to Brady during the decision-making process.
This was one of the last things that Brady could take. He had given up a lot of money to help make New England a winner. Where did that cash go? Was it part of the Patriots’ long-term success?
Belichick, on the other hand, seemed to think differently about this.
Things didn’t get better between Brady and Belichick after that. The head coach was still worried about the quarterback’s friendship with Alex Guerrero, a fitness expert and close friend of Brady’s who is seen as a troublemaker in the organization.
Too often, Guerrero could go into the locker room and talk to other players on the Patriots. He worked with Tom Brady on the “TB 12 method,” and he is seen as one of the most critical people in Brady’s life. Wickersham says Belichick told him that he couldn’t go on a team plane. It caused a rift between the best coach of all time and the quarterback he had been working with for the past 20 years.
Tom Brady Was Ready For A Change
When people ask, “Why did Tom Brady leave the Patriots?” there is a more straightforward answer. It’s easy to see the link. After being a star for 20 years and having unmatched success while playing for Belichick, the GOAT wanted to show that he could do it without the head coach.
Many people have talked about it in New England and NFL. Those arguments were mostly about who was most to blame for the Patriots’ dynastic run. Some thought it was because of how good a coach Belichick was. Some people believed that the head coach was only as successful as the best player.
In April 2020, when Brady first joined the Buccaneers, he talked about this. He didn’t say anything to counter that story. At least he mentioned that his legacy is tied to Belichick.
Brady didn’t say much about what his relationship with Belichick was like. After they broke up, he didn’t throw his old coach under the bus. Some think the quarterback just wanted to show that he could do it without his all-time great partner.
He sure did. When you look at how successful Brady has been in both Tampa Bay and New England over the past few seasons, it’s hard to say that he didn’t make the right choice.
In his last two seasons in New England, Tom Brady had a 63% completion rate, 8,412 yards, 53 touchdowns, 19 interceptions, a 92.6 rating, and a 23-9 record.
In his first two years in Tampa, Tom Brady’s stats were: 67% completion rate, 9,949 yards, 83 TDs, 24 INTs, 102.1 ratings, 24-9 record.
Brady was the team’s leader in his last two years with New England when they won the Super Bowl and lost in the wild-card round.
In his first year in Tampa, he won the championship, but this past January, he lost in the NFC to the Los Angeles Rams Divisional Playoffs.
Why Did Tom Brady Quit The New England Patriots? In The End, It’S A Bit Of Everything
The deal with Tom Brady
Supposed disagreement with Bill Belichick
Having no say over player personnel
want to try something new
When you look at why Tom Brady left the Patriots, these are the four main things to keep in mind.
But it’s not all good or all bad. Probably, egos played a role behind the scenes. A head coach can’t have long-term success and win six Super Bowls without having an ego.
Since Brady joined the Buccaneers, we’ve seen that ego has been the name of the game. He just told the NFL that he was leaving earlier this off-season. Although he had denied reports that he was going.
For Brady, it was all about making the announcement on his terms and getting more people to follow him on social media. He wouldn’t let Adam Schefter of ESPN beat him to this story. It wouldn’t help him build his brand.
Schefter and all major sports news outlets reported that Brady had retired a few days before he did.
Tom Brady took to social media again just a few weeks later to say that he was coming out of retirement. That’s a big ego that needs to be taken care of.
For better or worse, Brady’s departure from the Patriots and subsequent retirement won’t diminish his legacy. A top-tier athlete, he has won seven Super Bowls.
Still, it’s interesting to think about what made Brady leave New England after 20 years and join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team that wasn’t very important at the time.
