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Because he didn't want to be here anymore
You and I both know this is some serious revisionism. 95% of the talk on this forum was maybe Bill should consider re-signing Tom for one year only and very cheap. Most everyone thought Tom was toast. The board was very optimistic about Stidham. The beat writers, Lombardi, etc. were pumping up Stidham.
It’s okay to just admit it. Tom had tennis elbow in 2019; he didn’t look good. For the first time in career, he looked defeated and finished. I thought so too. But then again, I don’t have access to that medical information like the Patriots do. No reason to revise history to defend Bill here. He made a mistake. Whether or not Tom would have returned is tough to gauge when the team clearly, obviously (you know it) wanted to make it clear he’d only be back under their conditions, which was known to be a deal breaker with year-to-year skepticism. The team is responsible for convincing a free agent to stay, not the other way around. Tampa made Tom feel valued and secure long-term; the Patriots opted to not even try.
Very few on this forum felt the Patriots made the wrong move, and even fewer believed that Tom, not the team, was more responsible for the decision to part.
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