Brady gone

[DarrylS]

I had hoped he would retire as a Patriot, but all the signs were there that he would not. Listing his house, Guerrero listing his house etc. Maybe it was time as from my big comfy couch he seemed to have fallen off a bit the past year..

The old adage about letting a player go a year too early rather than a year too late may be in play here..

There will be those who will say that he did not have enough offensive weapons, but for many years now he has made chicken salad out of chicken crap..

BB will have a competitive team on the field and this years edition will be >8 & 8...

Wish you well Tom, great memories and you will always be the goat in my eyes..

 

[catent]

Tom wanted to move on, that much is clear.

The outcome remains to be seen, but I think this will end up being a "nose to spite the face" situation. I expect, 10-15-20 years from now, Tom will realize this wasn't the best decision, personally and legacy wise.

Whether it's Tampa or Los Angeles, I don't see either of those teams (regardless of raw talent) providing an environment and structure that will result in consistent, long-term success, both over the course of a 16-game season, and over the course of the final 2-3 years of Tom's career.

Tom will soon realize how important Belichick is to overall team success, including his attention to detail and consistency.

Arians, Lynn, whomever it ends up being, those teams will not be as consistently good as the Patriots. I fully expect the drop in standards, expectation, commitment, and effort from the top-down will frustrate Tom after 20 years in a football environment in which excellence is the top priority.

When he plays on a team that has different philosophical priorities, and he's routinely getting frustrated at the lack of commitment and effort to achieve excellence across a 53-man roster, he will realize his mistake.

The grass is not always greener.

 

[carmelo15]

Randy Moss “We’ll finally see who’s behind the 6 rings”.

Yup!

not when one guy is 43 maybe 7 years ago this would be true

 

[PatriotReign]

And careers go to die. “Gulp”. He will have weapons but boy that defense is shaky. Very shaky. Have to compete with brees, Ryan, and now bridgewater. I think brady might regret this one . Chargers better fit in my mind.

Boy dealing with Mahomes and all those weapons he has would be so much easier.

 

[jah]

Tom wanted to move on, that much is clear.

The outcome remains to be seen, but I think this will end up being a "nose to spite the face" situation. I expect, 10-15-20 years from now, Tom will realize this wasn't the best decision, personally and legacy wise.

Whether it's Tampa or Los Angeles, I don't see either of those teams (regardless of raw talent) providing an environment and structure that will result in consistent, long-term success, both over the course of a 16-game season, and over the course of the final 2-3 years of Tom's career.

Tom will soon realize how important Belichick is to overall team success, including his attention to detail and consistency.

Arians, Lynn, whomever it ends up being, those teams will not be as consistently good as the Patriots. I fully expect the drop in standards, expectation, commitment, and effort from the top-down will frustrate Tom after 20 years in a football environment in which excellence is the top priority.

When he plays on a team that has different philosophical priorities, and he's routinely getting frustrated at the lack of commitment and effort to achieve excellence across a 53-man roster, he will realize his mistake.

The grass is not always greener.

Well, unless he's considering a move to LA an early retirement and doesn't actually give a **** how the football goes.

 

[NYCPATS4LIFE]

I couldn't see it more differently. That Chargers roster is extremely uninspiring and the owner is one of the worst in sports, whereas Brady will at least get fun weapons in TB.

Chargers secondary a lot better and they’re getting derwin james back. Not to mention that the wideouts are still good. Much more complete. They can fix the OL with the number 6 pick. They have money.

 

[Bill Lee]

Makes me think he's going to LA to be closer to family, nourish his post-football career.

 

[Zarozzor]

Brady with Evans, Godwin, Howard, Brate and Brown if he’s unsuspended would be like shooting ****ing nukes at teams

 

[catent]

Well, unless he's considering a move to LA an early retirement and doesn't actually give a **** how the football goes.

It'll probably be Tampa Bay, and sure, a new offense with Arians will be fun and novel in some sense. But it won't be perfect; he'll clash with Arians at times; he'll realize his new WRs and TEs (regardless of talent) will not always be on the same page as him; he'll realize all the little details that going into winning, on both sides of the ball and special teams, and how no one addresses those details and nuances better than Belichick.

And when he sees his teammates and coaches making mistakes due to a lack of effort, attentiveness, and competency, he'll naturally become frustrated because he's a competitive person who wants to win, and is familiar with playing in an environment where effort, attentiveness, and competency is top priority. He's taking those things for granted, and when he realizes that standard doesn't exist elsewhere to the extent it does in New England, he'll be initially perplexed, and then frustrated.

Remember all the times we'd marvel at how well a Belichick-coached team handled a particular in-game scenario, and how we'd mock other teams for how poorly prepared they were for that same scenario? Yeah, I remember -- and Tom will remember very, very soon.

 

[Bill Lee]

I didn’t read that but I can sum it up. A overvalued 43 year old QB thought he should be paid 30 a year. Smart team says we can give you 15 because you are carrying a 13 mil dead cap hit. Player says hell no and I hate it here so he leaves.

Best NFL player ever. 20 years of just crazy times and memories.

He changed.

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

I kind of believe the Curran theory that the tipping point was the 2018 negotiation. BB clearly was getting less comfortable about committing large resources to an aging QB and presumably was getting more excited about what he could do with guys like JG and JB. TB didn't get the big deal that year, next year he asks for the right to be a free agent and then puts his house on the market.

Congrats to TB for gaining the right to decide what to do next and getting Tampa or LAC to send the Brink's truck his way. My guess is LAC since I'm thinking it's the better post-football destination, but Tampa is the better football situation.

 

[billikens]

If I remember things correctly — and am reading links like the one below correctly — the Patriots and Brady actually agreed on a two-year contract last August. For $70 million.

Tom Brady signs 2-year, $70 million extension with Patriots | Boston.com

From the story:
"Tom Brady has never known what it’s like to play out the final season of a contract in his 20-year NFL career, and the New England Patriots superstar quarterback isn’t about to find out."

But that changed and Brady decided he wanted to leave all options open at the end of 2019. I don't think that any of us can say why, what's driving it. But to me, I felt like Brady just wanted to try something different, for whatever reason. He's smart enough that he likely didn't expect Belichick to sway from the way he's been doing business the past 20+ years. It seems he got an offer and met with Kraft — playing out as I understand they agreed it would — and they all decided to move on.

I think both sides made decisions in their own perceived best interests and for that I don't think "blame" is in play. Much as the hot takers will play it that way.

I agree. Brady's got something going on that has more to do with him, his career, his posterity, etc. Belichick obviously has far different priorities. My guess is both have known for awhile that things were drifting. Brady's going off to find himself - we don't know really what that means, what he's looking for. Not sure if it's money. But Belichick is the guy who benched Bernie Kosar and is not going to change his ways now just to accommodate Brady's desires.

 

[upstater1]

That Kraft quote to Stephen A. is either pure spin or delusion.

 

[TheRainMaker]

I’m guessing the source that revealed to Colin Cowherd Brady to TB was either Mark Wahlberg or Ben Afleck.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

LAC have good weapons in Allen, Williams. and Henry. Their WRs are not as good as Tampa's but Henry is far and away better than Howard. Both defenses are a wash. Tough call for him, but the LA lifestyle may suit Brady and Gisele better. He's not going to drop 2 bombs on us in one day so we'll have to wait until tomorrow.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I’m guessing the source that revealed to Colin Cowherd Brady to TB was either Mark Wahlberg or Ben Afleck.

Good of a guess as any.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Good of a guess as any.

Or it could’ve been @2000army friend.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Or it could’ve been @2000army friend.

Is that an icon in TB12s circle?

 

[ensoul]

At this point I don't think Brady cares about rings just his stats and how he can prove he can play at a high level at age 43.

Remember when this team started 8-0 Brady was absolutely miserable because he was not putting up good numbers.

Tampa makes sense. Team probably won't win a SB but Brady may put up solid numbers

 

[TheRainMaker]

Is that an icon in TB12s circle?

According to that poster, probably.

 

[jah]

LAC have good weapons in Allen, Williams. and Henry. Their WRs are not as good as Tampa's but Henry is far and away better than Howard. Both defenses are a wash. Tough call for him, but the LA lifestyle may suit Brady and Gisele better. He's not going to drop 2 bombs on us in one day so we'll have to wait until tomorrow.

If anything, I'd call leaving the AFC lightening the blow instead of a second bomb.