It’s an open secret at this point that there are problems in the relationship between New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. There have been several reports that have backed this up despite both parties doing their best not to discuss their issues in public.
But according to the upcoming book, “Belichick: The Making of the Greatest Football Coach of All Time,” by ESPN’s Ian O’Connor, Brady’s relationship with his coach was so bad that he seriously considered walking away from the Patriots as recently as March of this year.
“If you’re married 18 years to a grouchy person who gets under your skin and never compliments you, after a while you want to divorce him,” a source told O’Connor after the 2017 season (per ESPN). “Tom knows Bill is the best coach in the league, but he’s had enough of him. If Tom could, I think he would divorce him.”
O’Connor’s account is consistent with other reports this offseason that Brady was on the fence about returning to the Patriots. However, Brady eventually came to the realization that it wasn’t realistic for him in his situation to go through with such a seismic separation, which was why he decided to return.
“But in the end, even if he wanted to, Brady could not walk away from the game, and he could not ask for a trade,” O’Connor wrote. “The moment Belichick moved (Jimmy) Garoppolo to San Francisco, and banked on Brady’s oft-stated desire to play at least into his mid-forties, was the moment Brady was virtually locked into suiting up next season and beyond. Had he retired or requested a trade, he would have risked turning an adoring New England public into an angry mob.”
Even as his relationship with Belichick has deteriorated over the years, Brady maintains he still wants to play into his mid-40s. So unless he or Belichick decides to retire, he'll just have to stomach his resentment toward his head coach for a few more years.
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