Tom Brady broke a lot of hearts in Boston when he left for his term with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the tail end of his career. Fans, for many years, have wondered why the legend suddenly upped and left, after a two-decade-long stint with the team that drafted him in 2000. Shannon Sharpe thinks Brady might just have answered that question on his latest podcast appearance with VicBlends.
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In his conversation with the interviewing barber, Brady said he would be “not opposed” to returning to the field, in case a playoff team is in need of a QB. While discussing who those teams could be, the first name on Brady’s lips was the Patriots. This, for Sharpe, is a clear indication that TB-12 never wanted to leave New England in the first place, and was rather “pushed out.”
Pushed out by whom though? Bill Belichick. This is not a new theory, and also perhaps part of the reason why Patriots fans didn’t condemn Brady as a traitor as intensely as they would’ve otherwise. Sharpe hypothesized,
“All this notion of ‘Tom was ready to leave,’ Bill Belichick pushed him out the door…They pushed Tom out. Tom wasn’t ready to leave New England. Dont you let anybody convince you of that…Coach Belichick believed he could win a Super Bowl without Tom Brady, and then there would be no doubt that he was the reason for their success.”
According to some reports, Belichick wanted Brady off the roster, thinking he had already passed the prime of his career, and would only be a downward trajectory thereon, indicating the same to Pats owner Robert Kraft. This appears to signal the beginning of the rift between Brady and Belichick.
Belichick purportedly restricted access to Gillette Stadium for Alex Guerrero, Brady’s longstanding trainer and business associate, in 2017, following the Patriots’ second Super Bowl win in three years. Despite another championship in the 2018 season, Belichick and Kraft chose not to grant Brady the contract he sought the following year.
Why Did Tom Brady Leave the “Dynasty?” In His Own Words
In the 10-part series on the Patriots, Brady, and several former Patriots players say that conditions under former head coach Bill Belichick became “brutal,” ultimately playing a role in Brady’s decision to leave the franchise after 20 seasons.
“Me and coach Belichick, we did what we loved and competed for 20 years together,” Brady said in the docu-series according to 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 was disheartened as Belichick was unwilling to meet his desired financial terms. Shortly before the commencement of the 2019 season, Brady secured a two-year extension from the Patriots, although the terms were deceiving.
While it provided a slight increase in salary for the 2019 season, the last two years (2020, and 2021) were made voidable, allowing the Patriots to distribute his cap hit more evenly. Of course, this felt like being cheated for Brady, who spent 2 decades giving his all for the team.
Now that Belichick is gone, Brady seems to be itching to get back on the ground with the team, where his heart still lies. While this has inspired new hope in the hearts of Boston fans, it’s going to be highly unlikely that Brady will make it to the gridiron, given his bid to become co-owner of the Raiders.
