Some of you guys look at the "one year early" deal like the NRA looks at the 2nd amendment. The thing is Belichick has never had to weigh moving a player of Brady's caliber before. He is unique. Replacing Wifork or Malloy for example(or you pick the guys) had way less impact than the loss of Brady at his current performance level would have.
Yeah, again for those with short attention spans, belichick isn't going to cut Brady while he's still putting up MVP numbers and winning Superbowls. And nobody is askong him to
That said the day will never come where it is smart to put all your eggs in one 40 year old basket. While he's the undisputed #1 right now and for the forseable future, you CAN'T mortgage your future to a guy like this. You HAVE to take any 40 year old athlete, even TB12, one year at a time, and have a plan ready for the year when he's no longer the answer. If you dpon't you're signalling that the team is going to break itself up on Brady's retirement, and I can't see that ever being Belichick's plan. Our team is way too strong to indicate we consider this ''one of the last years'' by failing to manage the possibility of needing a good replacement. So that is not what belichick did and it is not what he will do.
We could theoretically win the Superbowl without Brady this year and I give 100% of the credit to the head coach. If we handle the replacement question perfectly this era could be known to history as the *MIDDLE* of the Patriots dynasyty. We have the other pieces, a strong act to follow TB12 would put us in playoff contention for a very long time. That's too much to walk away from simply for blind faith in one athlete, even if that athlete is named Brady.
There is a balance to be struck between faith and intelligent risk management. You can not walk away from Tb12 while he's still at the top of his game. You also can't heedlessly fling the franchise down the crapper after him. Neither excessive nor insufficient faith is wise.
So far belichick is doing a great job managing risk without walking away from what Brady has left to give, or the possibility of a continued Dynasty after Brady. I consider that yet another sign that we have the GOAT coach.
So which of the two gives first? Now that to me is the only question that matters. Whether he gives up on the possibility of continuing Championship caliber runs after Brady is no longer elite... whether he betrays all his principles by saddling the team with a now-inferior athlete at a key position just because that athlete is named Brady... well I leave that to the informed to judge whether that is anything like Bill Belichick's character. But it's the sort of thing that losing teams and head coaches with no idea how to win at a sustained rate do. And I doubt Brady would ask for that.
Brady's time in New England is measured by the number of years he will continue to be the best quarterbacking option on his own team. Not by a set number of years or a number on his contract.
