Coach Bill Belichick requires his coaching staff to check into work by 4:30 am. The staff has often said that when they get to Gillette Stadium at 4:30 AM, coach Belichick is already in his office. Normally, coach Belichick doesn’t leave his office until 10 or 11 PM and is often the last of the coaching staff to leave.
Between 2015 and 2016, there was a lot of tension in the locker room between coach Belichick and many of the New England Patriot players. Once it became known that Belichick was a Trump supporter, many of the players were angry they were playing for someone who supported a person that had said so many racist things. Belichick tried downplaying how deep their relationship was, but it didn’t help his case that Donald Trump was talking about how great a friend Belichick was at his rallies. Many of the players found it difficult to play for Belichick just based on his connection to Trump and a few didn’t resign with the Patriots because of it.
Many Patriots insiders believed that had Los Angeles had a football team prior to 2015, (the Rams didn’t move back to Los Angeles until 2015) that Tom Brady would have left the Patriots much earlier than he did in 2019. Brady had often spent time in LA in the off-season, and had they had a team, Los Angeles would have been at the top of his list to leave the New England Patriots for.
Once Belichick banned Alex Guerrero from the New England Patriots private plane, owner Kraft stepped in and allowed Guerrero to fly on his own plane even though the head coach would not allow him to fly on the team plane. Kraft knew that Tom Brady and Guerrero were becoming best friends, and if Tom Brady wanted his best friend around, then he would have to accommodate him if that meant keeping the QB happy. Belichick felt differently about Alex Guerrero and didn’t want him to have unlimited access to the team.
Brady had become close friends with undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather in the last ten years. Brady would often facetime with Mayweather trying to get pointers on how the boxer stayed on top of his craft and undefeated after so many years. Unfortunately for Brady, Mayweather stayed friendly with the Patriot’s QB, but didn’t offer him much advice or tips on being an elite athlete.
Belichick is famous for cutting or not re-signing players after winning a super bowl. The first time it happened, Tom Brady was so furious with coach Belichick for not resigning former pro-bowler Lawyer Milloy, that Brady went as far as telling Bob Kraft in private to make Belichick change his mind. After a few years of it becoming more routine, Brady stopped complaining to the owner that Belichick was letting winners walk out the door.
The one player that left the New England Patriots which angered Tom Brady the most, was former wide receiver Wes Welker. It bothered Brady for a long time that coach Belichick didn’t resign the successful receiver and let him walk to the Denver Broncos. Welker did want return to the Patriots that off-season, but Belichick did not offer him the contract he was looking for.
Brady understood that coach Belichick wanted Jimmy Garoppolo to be the future of the New England Patriots and his replacement at quarterback. When Garoppolo went down with a shoulder injury in 2016, he made an appointment to be treated by Alex Guerrero at the TB12 facility. When Garoppolo showed up to the facility, no one was there and Garoppolo was locked out. Although Guerrero apologized for the matter and chalked it up to miscommunication, many felt Guerrero treated Garoppolo that way on purpose.
And speaking of Garoppolo, coach Belichick was so serious on having Jimmy Garoppolo as the starting QB, that Belichick did in fact have a trade in place for Tom Brady. Although know one officially knows who the team was or what trading pieces were involved, Belichick was that close to dealing Tom Brady. Kraft and Belichick spoke privately about it a few times, and in the end Kraft told Belichick to trade Garoppolo instead and stick with Brady.
In the end, Tom Brady left the New England Patriots for three main reasons. Number one, Belichick would often ask Brady for his advice on football decisions and then in the end never take his advice. That really wore on Tom over time. Second, Brady was upset with Belichick not extending the quarterback past a two year commitment. Brady was looking for a long term four or five year deal in which he could retire with the Patriots when he wanted to. But coach Belichick never offered him anything beyond two years. And lastly, even though Brady took “team-friendly” deals over the years making it easier for the Patriots to sign other talent, he was looking for a bigger payday on his last contract. Belichick at the time was not willing to offer Brady anything more than 14 or 15 million dollars a year. And those are the main reason that Tom Brady is now playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.