I love Brady as much as anyone, but if he wants top QB salary or just wants a change of scenery then he'll probably be somewhere else next year and I won't blame either side for that. It's weird, feels like I should be really stressed at the possibility but I'm not. I remain optimistic that he'll retire a Patriot for now, but if he doesn't then that's just the cruel reality of football in the salary cap era and I'll continue to root for both Tom and the Pats.
I don't think it would be a wise career move for Brady to switch teams at this point in his career, and I do worry a bit that he could damage his legacy a little bit if he ended up in a situation where his performance dropped precipitously and people wrongly chalked that up to him having been a 'system QB' all along, rather than trying to learn an entirely new offense and personnel at age 43. We already know there are a lot of people who desperately want to be able to make that argument and will disingenuously take any 'evidence' Brady gives them to do so. But being a proud, pathologically competitive dude who believes in himself at all times is a huge part of what makes Brady who he is in the first place, so if that mentality ends up directing the next phase of his career then I def. get it.
And likewise, as much as I love Belichick, I'm sure he's given Brady plenty of reasons over the years to be sick of his ****. I hope they all decide to align on a bigger picture that works for all of them, but if they don't that's life and at worst we'll still have an unprecedented 19 year run to look back on.