With the future of Tom Brady with the New England Patriots in question, here are three reasons why the future Hall-of-Famer won’t want to return in 2020.
There are few things in the sports world that have paired together better than Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. Brady, who just wrapped up his 20th season in the NFL and in New England in 2019, has spent his entire professional career with the Patriots after being selected in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft out of Michigan.
From that point on, Brady and New England have become an inseparable pair, with the quarterback recording Hall-of-Fame accolades including helping lead the Patriots to 17 AFC East titles and six Super Bowl titles in those 20 seasons.
After a year of frustration in 2019, one that ended in New England exiting the playoffs the earliest it has since the 2009 season, there is becoming a growing realization that Brady and the Patriots might end up separating and going in different directions this offseason and for a remainder of the veteran quarterback’s time under center in the league.
For the first time in his historic and lengthy career, Brady — who will turn 43 years old in August — will hit the free agency market this offseason while being able to pick where he would like to play since he committed to Michigan to play college football prior to entering the NFL.
Although it is hard to imagine Brady in another uniform other than the Patriots’ red, white and blue, there is a real possibility that the quarterback could look to move on from New England and take the field for a different team and organization in 2020.
There are plenty of other teams around the league that would be in the market for a quarterback, especially a quarterback to the caliber of Brady, and the quarterback could find out he might have a better chance to win at least one more Super Bowl elsewhere this year and beyond.
With the future of Brady in New England seriously up in the air for basically the first time ever, let’s go ahead and pick out three reasons why the Hall-of-Fame quarterback won’t want to return to the Patriots in 2020 and for a remainder of his career.
3. Relationship with Bill Belichick
Early on in both of their careers, the relationship between Tom Brady and Bill Belichick appeared to be as strong as anyone could have imagined.
While the two individuals share the same winning and championship mentality and are both two of the best to ever do it on a football field in their respective duties, Brady and Belichick had formed a bond early on in their time together in New England that appeared to be unbreakable and inseparable.
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But as both Brady and Belichick continued their careers together with the Patriots and most notably in the past few seasons, the duo has begun to butt heads and eventually started to have somewhat of a difficult relationship, according to various reports in the last few years.
That factor might be the initial and first reason why Brady might look to take his talents elsewhere in 2020 and part ways with both Belichick and the only organization he has played for in the NFL going into his 21st season in the league.
In 2018, Brady’s frustration and relationship with his head coach appeared to be spiraling downwards, with the quarterback reportedly “had enough” of Belichick and even thought about parting ways with him.
When ESPN published a book titled Belichick: The Making of the Greatest Football Coach of All Time around that time, the book outlined that Brady felt like he was getting pushed out by Belichick and even “felt trapped” while playing for his longtime coach.
Now in 2020, with Brady entering free agency for the first time in his 20-year career, we are about to find out just how true that all is with the Hall-of-Fame quarterback pondering where he will play during the upcoming year.
There hasn’t really been any update to the relationship between Brady and Belichick recently, but the fact that the two have reportedly had some issues within their relationship in the past might persuade Brady enough to initiate that separation from his head coach and the Patriots this offseason.
2. Patriots offense needs some work
At the beginning of the 2019 campaign, it looked like the New England Patriots would consist of one of its most talented offensive groups since Tom Brady broke into the NFL in 2000.
With running backs Sony Michel and James White out of the backfield to go alongside wide receiving targets Julian Edelman, Phillip Dorsett, Josh Gordon and the late addition of Antonio Brown, the Patriots offense was looking to be one of the more potent offensive units around the league this year and perhaps the most talent that Brady has dealt with as his time as a professional.
Then, it all started to fall apart in New England.
Brown couldn’t avoid drama — and still hasn’t been able to do so — which resulted in the Patriots parting ways with the dominant wideout shortly after signing him a few weeks prior. Gordon ended up getting hurt, put on the injury reserved list and then later was released by the organization and Dorsett dealt with injury issues of his own throughout the course of the regular season.
That left three players left within that group to surround Brady on offense, which limited New England’s ability to take games over on the offensive side of the field.
Going into the offseason, that continues to be a glaring issue for Brady and the Patriots, which might drive the veteran quarterback to find another reason not to want to return to New England in 2020.
During the 2019 campaign, the Patriots ranked 15th in the league in total yards on offense, which is the worst since the 2003 season. New England also ranked seventh in points per game, which is the lowest ranking since the 2008 campaign.
Going into the offseason, the Patriots are going to have to improve things on the offensive side of the ball to try and convince their Hall-of-Fame quarterback to return in 2020. But that reason might just end up being another reason why Brady might not want to return this upcoming year.
1. The Super Bowl window might be closed
Basically from the moment Tom Brady broke into the NFL with the New England Patriots as a sixth-round draft pick in 2000 and took over the Patriots offense shortly thereafter, New England been able to experience a dynasty run under its Hall-of-Fame quarterback and head coach Bill Belichick.
The duo of Brady and Belichick put together a stretch from 2000 up until this past 2019 season that included 17 AFC West titles and six league championships, winning Super Bowl titles in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016 and most recently in 2018.
But perhaps the biggest reason why Brady might not want to return to New England in 2020 and beyond as he hits the free-agent market for the first time in his career is that the Super Bowl window might be closed for Brady, Belichick and the Patriots organization currently.
Together in New England, Brady and Belichick changed the game of football with their adaptability and long-term consistency, annually emerging as a Super Bowl-caliber team even when the Patriots looked like they wouldn’t be able to do it again during a season.
Time and time again, Brady stepped up to lead New England in the biggest of moments and Belichick helped head that success by surrounding Brady with the necessary tools and personnel to consistently string together success that ultimately led to league championships.
But with a mix of factors in play at this point in both the quarterback and head coach’s careers — including Father Time, the caliber of talent on both ends of the ball and the eventual end of a successful run that every organization experiences eventually — the Super Bowl window is rapidly closing and might come to an ending sooner than we think or could have imagined.
It would be weird to see Brady, Belichick and the Patriots part ways prior to the start of the 2020 season, but all good things must come to an end at some point. And that end and a fresh start might be what the future Hall-of-Fame quarterback might seek going into his 21st season in the NFL this year.