He definitely didn’t go all-in for Brady’s last few years. If he did, he would have backloaded contracts and traded draft picks for known commodities. He continued working within the 1-2 year cap responsibility window whereby the team is very competitive every year, even if they’re not maximizing every move to win-now like the Broncos 2012-15, Saints, 2018-20, and Bucs (starting now, we’ll see more of that.)
He tried get Brady weapons. Traded a first for Cooks, but that wasn’t a great fit. Three more firsts spent on Wynn, Michel, and Harry. Signed AB. So it‘s not like he purposely left Brady out there in 2019 like that.
There are two issues that, I think, caused it to end:
1. Brady, and Gronkowski, partially due to their aging, didn’t want to be mico-managed about rest, nutrition, etc. and wanted a more laid back (and common sense) coach. And I think that‘s where the Brady—Bill schism begins…a guy who wants to do it his way, and his way also has an unprecedented timeframe for how long he can play, and a controlling, “year too early is better” coach who isn’t okay with this on numerous levels.
2. The Patriots drafting is barren for years, which makes it an easier decision, because Brady is no longer bound to the Patriots as “the best chance to win.” However, I’d say the way Bill went about the entire process, including the way he approached free agency, the 2020 season, etc. really makes it difficult to buy that he was rebuilding…rather, I believe he thought he was simply swapping out the position and would be fine.
From that perspective, Brady made a decision that benefitted him, but the Patriots happily watching him walk away, was that the best decision for them? Absolutely not. If they could have convinced him to stay, knowing 2020 would be challenging but seeing all the cap space in 2022, they’d be Super Bowl favorites right now and are probably still contending through at least 2023. The 2020 cap “situation” had nothing to do with this…they absolutely could have kept him and worked the contract in one of many ways. It had to do with them, and Bill, refusing to get on their knees and beg, as any other franchise would have done in this case. But not only did they refuse to beg, they really didn’t do anything. They treated him like every other aging player, hoping he’d have almost no market and would come running back to them.
