Tom Brady, the legendary NFL quarterback who spent 20 years with the New England Patriots, has finally opened up about what led to his departure from the team. In his latest newsletter, Brady revealed that growing tension between him and longtime head coach Bill Belichick played a big role in his decision to leave the Patriots after the 2019 season.
While rumors of behind-the-scenes issues have been around for years, Brady has mostly stayed quiet—until now.
Brady’s Thoughts on Leaving New England
Brady shared that his decision to leave wasn’t sudden. In fact, he began thinking about leaving two to three years before he actually became a free agent in March 2020.
“It was a creeping decision that lived passively in the back of mind,” Brady wrote in his newsletter.
After the Patriots lost to the Tennessee Titans in the 2019 playoffs, Brady said it became clear that his time in New England was coming to an end.
The “Natural Tension” with Belichick
In his message, Brady said that after 20 years, it was natural that differences in direction started to form between him, Coach Belichick, and the Patriots as an organization.
“It was the kind of tension that could only be resolved by some kind of split or one of us reassessing our priorities,” Brady explained.
Since neither of them was willing to make those changes, the breakup became inevitable, and Brady moved on to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he went on to win his seventh Super Bowl.
Brady Has Spoken Before — But Not Like This
Although Brady has discussed his Patriots exit in documentaries like Dynasty on Apple TV, he had never directly said there was “tension.” He usually described the end of his time in New England in a more peaceful way.
In the documentary, he said:
“I wasn’t going to sign another contract [in New England]… I wasn’t going to sign up for more of it.”
Even Patriots owner Robert Kraft mentioned in the past that tension between Brady and Belichick was part of the reason for the breakup. According to Kraft, there was even a season when the two barely spoke.
Where Do Things Stand Now?
Although Brady and Belichick had a rocky end, their relationship seems to have improved in recent years. Belichick even showed up at Brady’s roast event in May and was reportedly contacted by Brady about the Las Vegas Raiders’ head-coaching job, though the team later hired Pete Carroll.
It appears that both have moved on from the past and are now on better terms.
After years of speculation, Tom Brady has finally confirmed that growing tension with Coach Bill Belichick was a major reason for his decision to leave the New England Patriots. While the split was difficult, both Brady and Belichick have since shown signs of reconciliation.
With seven Super Bowl wins and a career filled with records, Brady’s story with the Patriots may have ended in tension, but it has since found closure with mutual respect.