Will Tom Brady’s departure start a rebuild for New England Patriots?

With Tom Brady deciding he won’t return to the New England Patriots in 2020, could this officially be the start of a rebuild in Foxborough?

We are officially entering a new era of New England Patriots football. With the start of the new league year this week, one of the biggest questions surrounding the Patriots was whether or not Tom Brady would return to New England for the remainder of his career as he hit free agency for the first time.

On Tuesday, the NFL learned that Brady will indeed be taking his talents elsewhere for the first time in two decades, announcing on social media that he will leave the Patriots ahead of the 2020 campaign.

Brady announced via social media Tuesday morning that he doesn’t know what his future in football consists of, but that it is time for him “to open a new stage for my life and career.”

Shortly after that shocking announcement of Brady leaving the only franchise he has ever played for in the NFL, New England owner Robert Kraft and Patriots head coach Bill Belichick released statements thanking the legendary quarterback for his contributions in New England for two decades.

On one hand, it will be incredibly odd to witness Brady take the field in a new uniform and with a new team in 2020 and beyond, but what might be even weirder is the fact that the Patriots will have a new quarterback under center this season — whenever that takes place — for the first time since 2000.

When you look at the Patriots and the success they have been able to accomplish on the field over the past two decades, Brady has been in the center of all of that alongside the dangerous pairing of his head coach in Belichick.

Numerous accolades were achieved, multiple Super Bowl titles were won and endless memories were created in New England with No. 12 under center. But now, that will come to a close.

With Brady now officially not returning to New England this season, we might be experiencing the rare occurrence of the Patriots going through a rebuild while they try and look towards finding their next franchise quarterback.

There are a few options that New England could explore before ultimately making a decision to go through a full rebuild or not.

The first option for the Patriots would be that they could try and sign a veteran quarterback in free agency, such as Philip Rivers, Jameis Winston or maybe even Teddy Bridgewater. They could also try and look towards the draft to mold their next franchise quarterback or turn to current back-up quarterback Jarrett Stidham to take things over under center.

If New England does look to go through a full rebuild, could we end up seeing players such as veteran wide receiver Julian Edelman and other long-time Patriots players also leave the team before the 2020 year begins? That would certainly be on the table, you would imagine.

New England got its answer it was anxiously awaiting for this offseason on Tuesday when Brady announced he won’t be returning to the Patriots this year while turning the page in his career. But one thing remains for New England, and that is the fact that it now has a decision to make of where it wants to go as a franchise.

Brady is now gone, but there still are some solid pieces in place in New England approaching the 2020 season. Could this ultimately be the start of a rebuild in Foxborough and within one of the most storied franchises in the NFL? We are about to find out.