New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is running his first training camp without Tom Brady as QB1 since 2001. And to the surprise of absolutely nobody, he doesn't seem to broken up about it (at least publicly).
As Belichick sees it, players come and go in NFL, including stars and Hall of Famers. The Patriots have certainly had their fair share of both during Belichick's two-decade tenure in New England that has produced six Super Bowl titles and nine AFC championships.
“Well we’ve had a lot of great, great players over the course of that time. You could have the same conversation about all of them – Tedy Bruchi, Rodney Harrison, Ty Law, Logan Mankins, Rob [Gronkowski]. You could go right down the line,” Belichick said in a media session with reporters on Friday morning.
After 20 seasons in New England, Brady, 42, signed a two-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that will pay him $50 million guaranteed with another $9 million in incentives.
Belichick is focusing on his current roster, including the quarterback battle between Jarrett Stidham and Cam Newton. Veteran Brian Hoyer is on the roster, too.
“Every team has changes every year,” Belichick added, characteristically. “We have ’em, so does everybody else. I think right now, everybody’s focused on this year…We’re trying to look ahead and look at what are our opportunities, challenges that we have coming forward this season in the 2020 season. So that’s really where our focus is.”
According to NBC Sports' Phil Perry, who observed Patriots practice on Thursday, Newton has started to separate himself from Stidham in the QB competition. The 2015 MVP went 7-for-13 in 25 competitive 11-on-11 snaps, while Stidham went 2-for-6 with two interceptions in 17 competitive snaps.
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