Reminder: EVERYONE knew that Brady would have between 1 and 3 productive seasons

[Simpelton]

The fact that Brady is successfsul outside the Patriots organization in the first year was known. It's also irrelevant. Preparing for Life After Brady was going to have to happen sooner or later. Whenever Bill chose that time, we knew it would be with a couple productive years to go. This is one of them. That's all.

 

[Brick27]

Get out of here with your level-headed take. This forum is no place for it.

 

[MainePatsFan26]

The fact that Brady is successfsul outside the Patriots organization in the first year was known. It's also irrelevant. Preparing for Life After Brady was going to have to happen sooner or later. Whenever Bill chose that time, we knew it would be with a couple productive years to go. This is one of them. That's all.

Even with better drafting, our success year after year wouldn't have allowed us -- in terms of salary cap -- to have the massive talent of the current Buc roster.

 

[Simpelton]

deleted

 

[RIpats88]

Brady would not win #7 with the Patriots and this roster. The bucs are an extremely talented team and Brady is still the GOAT

 

[Ian]

I will say, it would have potentially made sense to give him what he asked for to keep him here two more seasons to buy them time to replace him. That was the killer, he left and they had Stidham and Hoyer. That's - what's the phrase - not ideal.

 

[XLIX]

Anything less than 19-0 next year and Tom Brady was a complete failure in Tampa....

 

[XLIX]

The fact that Brady is successfsul outside the Patriots organization in the first year was known.

STFU with the revisionist history.

Some of us - but only some of us - called this.

 

[203Pat]

Lol yeah everyone knew a 43 year old QB would waltz into the losingest organization in NFL history and win them a super bowl in year one. Please you’re embarrassing yourself.

 

[Biffins]

The fact that Brady is successfsul outside the Patriots organization in the first year was known. It's also irrelevant. Preparing for Life After Brady was going to have to happen sooner or later. Whenever Bill chose that time, we knew it would be with a couple productive years to go. This is one of them. That's all.

Well then why didn't we keep Brady for a couple of years?

It was stupid to let him go.

 

[Digit]

Because Brady -wanted- to go win another Super Bowl. It's all he lives for. Tampa Bay was at a different phase of the salary cap life-cycle than the Patriots were in terms of making a run at the Super Bowl.

This isn't simply a matter of 'the team could have chosen to keep Brady'. This had to be a mutual decision - Brady had to -want- to stay too, that's the point of free agency. And Tampa Bay offered a team that was on the cusp, as opposed to a team that needed to be rebuilt.

This isn't like Indianapolis cutting Peyton Manning to replace him with Andrew Luck, this is more "I needed to go on my own terms" from Tom Brady.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

I will say, it would have potentially made sense to give him what he asked for to keep him here two more seasons to buy them time to replace him. That was the killer, he left and they had Stidham and Hoyer. That's - what's the phrase - not ideal.

This is where I stand on it too. If you’re ready to move on, okay. But no succession plan and a pretty bizarre strategy in 2020 of not trading for draft picks and building for the future.

I think Belichick overestimated Stidham and, to be honest, is perhaps guilty of overestimating his own abilities to coach this roster and QB into contention. And that's understandable. You have to believe in yourself and take risks...I'm sure Brady has overestimated his own abilities many times. You don't get to the pinnacle of success by playing it safe.

But I think what bugs me the most about Belichick is there were quite a few reports that they could have traded Gilmore and perhaps McCourty midseason for some draft picks. Possibly Thuney as well, if they're not going to pay him long-term anyway. I really don't understand why you don't pull the trigger there and just take the best offer. They've now had some prime opportunities to cash in big-time for their assets; they could have traded Garoppolo in 2017 for at least a mid first round pick (rumored to be even more) but again were hedging their bets about Brady's longevity. And in 2020, with a team that's clearly not going to contend, holding on to some of these veteran players? I just don't think they're at a point where finding bargain free agents, flipping draft picks, and landing comp picks is enough to rebuild. They have the 15th overall pick but it seems they could have more than that and need more than that. Is there some stubbornness here in acknowledging it's time for an all-out rebuild? Is there some degree of outsmarting yourself when a strategy to exchange the present for the future is an obvious call?

For once, I'd like to see them get the same draft shopping spree that it seems almost every other franchise gets. As great as Belichick is, maybe he could use some checks and balances in the power structure. By nature, none of us can see our own blind spots, and there are some blind spots within the organization for the last few years...the problems with the 2020 club may be obvious now, but the issues that led to it go back pretty far, at least the mid-2010s...and it isn't solely because of bad luck with draft picks. The draft picks explain why they have a lot of holes in their roster; they don't explain why they're not well positioned to replenish them.

 

[Triumph]

Brady should walk away right now.

But he wont and I believe that he just played in his last Super Bowl.

 

[Biffins]

Brady should walk away right now.

But he wont and I believe that he just played in his last Super Bowl.

That's what we all thought in 2018.

Frankly he looked better in this win than in 2018.

 

[Pape]

Lol yeah everyone knew a 43 year old QB would waltz into the losingest organization in NFL history and win them a super bowl in year one. Please you’re embarrassing yourself.

Win it all? Probably not.
Take them deep into the playoffs, with a chance at making it all the way? Absolutley.

 

[Cam2HarryGOAT]

Brady should walk away right now.

But he wont and I believe that he just played in his last Super Bowl.

I believe he will win two more to complete the trilogy of trilogies. Pure foolishness to bet against Brady at this point. What possible reason could you have to think Tampa doesn't have a great chance to repeat, let alone get to the Superbowl now that Brees is out of their division?

 

[Cam2HarryGOAT]

This is where I stand on it too. If you’re ready to move on, okay. But no succession plan and a pretty bizarre strategy in 2020 of not trading for draft picks and building for the future.

I think Belichick overestimated Stidham and, to be honest, is perhaps guilty of overestimating his own abilities to coach this roster and QB into contention. And that's understandable. You have to believe in yourself and take risks...I'm sure Brady has overestimated his own abilities many times. You don't get to the pinnacle of success by playing it safe.

But I think what bugs me the most about Belichick is there were quite a few reports that they could have traded Gilmore and perhaps McCourty midseason for some draft picks. Possibly Thuney as well, if they're not going to pay him long-term anyway. I really don't understand why you don't pull the trigger there and just take the best offer. They've now had some prime opportunities to cash in big-time for their assets; they could have traded Garoppolo in 2017 for at least a mid first round pick (rumored to be even more) but again were hedging their bets about Brady's longevity. And in 2020, with a team that's clearly not going to contend, holding on to some of these veteran players? I just don't think they're at a point where finding bargain free agents, flipping draft picks, and landing comp picks is enough to rebuild. They have the 15th overall pick but it seems they could have more than that and need more than that. Is there some stubbornness here in acknowledging it's time for an all-out rebuild? Is there some degree of outsmarting yourself when a strategy to exchange the present for the future is an obvious call?

For once, I'd like to see them get the same draft shopping spree that it seems almost every other franchise gets. As great as Belichick is, maybe he could use some checks and balances in the power structure. By nature, none of us can see our own blind spots, and there are some blind spots within the organization for the last few years...the problems with the 2020 club may be obvious now, but the issues that led to it go back pretty far, at least the mid-2010s...and it isn't solely because of bad luck with draft picks. The draft picks explain why they have a lot of holes in their roster; they don't explain why they're not well positioned to replenish them.

This is one of Bill's MOs. He routinely leaves the cupboard bare at one position or another with no real succession plan. Was it 2006 that we would have won a SuperBowl if we had even one NFL caliber WR on our roster? He does this all the time. You think QB would be the one exception, but apparently not.

 

[Triumph]

I believe he will win two more to complete the trilogy of trilogies. Pure foolishness to bet against Brady at this point. What possible reason could you have to think Tampa doesn't have a great chance to repeat, let alone get to the Superbowl now that Brees is out of their division?

Brady will lose to the Pats and Cam.

00: 35 left in the 56th Super Bowl and Cam drives the Pats down with no timeouts and throws a winning TD to Harry.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

That's what we all thought in 2018.

Frankly he looked better in this win than in 2018.

How on earth is BrAdy cOuLd HuRt His LeGaCy By PlAyInG still a thing??? Oh my god.

 

[Boston Boxer]

Well then why didn't we keep Brady for a couple of years?

It was stupid to let him go.

I'm not sure we let him go. I think it was more on Brady wanting to prove he could win without the Patriots. I doubt Brady would have come back even if the Pats offered him $30M+/per