Drew Brees on Tom Brady's mentality playing against former Patriots team
Some of Drew Brees best performances were against his former team in the Chargers. He shares how he thinks Tom Brady is approaching his return to New England.
Sports Seriously, USA TODAY
Had the New England Patriots been willing to meet a few Tom Brady demands, perhaps the legendary quarterback would have finished his NFL career with the organization.
Already, Brady has seen his football life post-New England looks a lot like his time there: winning. In his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brady won his seventh Super Bowl.
On Sunday, he'll return to New England for the first time and face his former coach Bill Belichick. It's expected to be a warm homecoming, but some will be left wondering by the end of the night:
Why isn't Tom Brady with the Patriots anymore?
Brady wanted fair contract (more money), more input
With his contract set to expire after the 2019 season, Brady showed up to training camp ready to make a deal to keep him in New England for the rest of his career, Seth Wickersham reported in his upcoming book, "It's Better to Be Feared." Brady, who turned 42 that month, felt he earned the right to a contract that would take him to age 45. Owner Robert Kraft was a proponent of keeping Brady happy.
The talks became contentious, Wickersham reports, with the deadline to ink an extension that month. The Patriots ultimately announced a two-year extension – but those years would void at the completion of the 2019 league year, and the team would not be able to place the franchise tag on the quarterback..
Brady’s house in Brookline, Massachusetts, then went for sale. He quelled suspicion at the time, but it proved to be one of the first steps in his departure.
"Brady was tired of taking team-friendly deals with no input into how the money saved was spent – and still wanted a long-term contractual commitment," Wickersham writes in his book.
The quarterback also wanted more input on personnel decisions. Belichick pushed back on it and lamented what he felt was a Kraft-Brady alliance.
"Belichick told associates that every organizational decision now was in support of Brady, geared toward pleasing him and making him successful – and that Kraft meddled with the team, sometimes with opinions, sometimes with restrictive budgets," Wickersham writes.
The Buccaneers signed Brady to a two-year, $50-million contract and extended him another year through 2022. Brady routinely took team-friendly deals so Belichick could spend to address needs across the Patriots' roster.
Brady-Belichick relationship wore down
Aside from the contract and money, and despite their personality differences, Brady and Belichick found common ground through their work ethic and ambition, Wickersham said on the "ESPN Daily" podcast about his book.
After the Patriots' Super Bowl 51 win over the Atlanta Falcons, per Wickersham, Brady's thinking shifted into his off-field pursuits. Brady recently told the Wall Street Journal "I feel like I'm living two lives" – his current football life, and the post-football life he's already built.
"‘Hey, we’ve made history now, I can venture out of my own business and promote my own business … I can have a camera crew follow me around for ‘Tom vs. Time’ (documentary),'” Wickersham described the future Hall of Famer's thinking.
Wickersham referenced a 2017 loss against the Houston Texans, after which Belichick crushed Brady during a film session in front of the team and other coaches further chided his performance.
Brady, Wickersham said on the podcast, is “a relentless positive thinker and positive speaker. There was always going to be an inherent rub to that in Bill Belichick.” Belichick, although also an optimist, had a process that focused on the negatives in every situation.
Then there was friction over Brady's "fitness guru" and friend Alex Guerrero, who guided the famous "TB12 method" that drives the quarterback's namesake wellness company and lifestyle. Belichick apparently banned him from the team plane; Guerrero has his own office in Tampa Bay, according to Wickersham.
Belichick also appeared to question Brady's toughness following a comeback victory in the 2017 AFC championship game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Brady suffered a cut on his hand in practice that week.
“Tom did a great job and he’s a tough guy. We all know that, all right?” replied Belichick when asked whether the injury affected the game plan. “But we’re not talking about open heart surgery here.”
No matter: the Patriots went on to win the Super Bowl. The damage had been done though. Brady told those close to him he no longer desired to play for Belichick, per Wickersham.
Brady wanted to try things away from New England
During an April 2020 interview on "The Howard Stern Show" (Sirius XM) – a two-hour affair with the legendary talk radio host, his first extensive public comments since signing in Tampa Bay – Brady was open and revealing when asked about his legacy being tied to Belichick.
"I think it's a pretty (expletive) argument actually that people would say that. Because, again, I can't do his job and he can't do mine," he told Stern. "The fact you could say, 'Would I be as successful without him, the same level of success?' I don't think I would have been. But I feel the same in vice versa as well.
"To have him allowed me to be the best that I could be. So I'm grateful for that, and I very much believe he feels the same way about me because we've expressed that to each other."
Stern asked: "But Tom, isn't there some resentment on your part, that he didn't make you a Patriot for life?"
"No, absolutely not," Brady answered. "Because this is a part of my life to experience something very different."
How it ended: a tearful goodbye
As coronavirus pandemic precautions went into effect during mid-March 2020, Brady texted Kraft to arrange a socially distanced meet-up.
Kraft had done his best to hold the trio together, Wickersham said. He was aware of Brady’s dwindling patience and he offered olive branches to the quarterback.
“We’re not gonna continue together,” Brady told Kraft. Both men started to cry, according to Wickersham.
Brady also wanted to visit Belichick, who said he was not available. This week the coach denied the assertion he didn't want to meet in person. During a phone call that night, Belichick offered effusive praise, Wickersham reported. Brady said this week their relationship is in good standing.
"They were no longer overlord and star employee, but two employees who together had accomplished something unprecedented that was coming to an end," Wickersham said.
Onto Tampa Bay was it was for Brady. So far, so good – for him.
Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.
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