In the 2000 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots selected a little-known quarterback at the time in the Sixth Round (No. 199 overall) out of the University of Michigan. That quarterback would be at the epicenter of what would become one of the greatest dynasties in not just the history of the National Football League (NFL), but in the history of the four major North American Sports. On Tuesday right before the start of NFL free agency, that said quarterback said goodbye to the one and only franchise he played two decades for.
After 20 seasons in Foxborough, MA future Hall of Famer Tom Brady announced early Tuesday morning on his Twitter page @TomBrady that he will not be returning to Patriots, making him an unrestricted free agent.
“I wanted to say thank you to all of the incredible fans and Patriots supporters. MA has been my home for twenty years. It has truly been the happiest two decades I could have envisioned in my life and I have nothing but love and gratitude for my time in New England,” Brady said. “The support has been overwhelming-I wish every player could experience it. My children were born and raised here and you always embraced this California kid as your o0wn. I love your commitment and loyalty to your teams and winning for our city means more than you will ever know. I can’t thank you enough for the support of our team. The packed training camps and sold out stadiums and mostly the victory parades. I have been so blessed to share them with you all. I tried to represent us always in the best and most honorable way, and I fought hard with my teammates to help bring victory and triumph even in the most dire situations. You opened your heart to me, and I opened my heart to you. And Pats Nation will always be a part of me. I don’t know what my football future holds but it is time for me to open a new stage for my life and career. I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I will always love you and what we have shared-a lifetime full of fun memories.”
This is not the first time though that a big-name signal caller has changed teams.
After playing 17 seasons for the then Baltimore Colts (1956-72), the late Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas moved on to the then San Diego, now Los Angeles Chargers, starting four games in 1973 before retiring.
“Broadway” Joe Namath played his first 12 seasons with the New York Jets (1965-76), highlighted by a win in Super Bowl III over the Unitas and the Colts, but was waived and joined the Los Angeles Rams, where he started four games before retiring.
After 14 years with the San Francisco 49ers (1979-92), leading them to four Super Bowl wins, Hall of Famer Joe Montana was dealt to the Kansas City Chiefs, playing his final two seasons (1993-94). Montana led the Chiefs to the AFC title game 1993.
The most recent famed signal caller to change teams late in his career was Brett Favre who played 16 seasons with the Green Bay Packers (1992-07), then played his final three seasons first with the Jets and then the final two with NFC North Division rival Minnesota Vikings.
That was followed by future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning, who after playing his first 13 seasons with the now Indianapolis Colts (1998-2010), played four years with the Denver Broncos (2012-15) after sitting out 2011 with a neck injury. Peyton helped to lead the Broncos to victory in Super Bowl 50 over the Carolina Panthers, the franchises third Vince Lombardi trophy and his second overall.
The conclusion to one of the most successful runs of success an NFL franchise has by the Patriots led by Brady and Coach Belichick had raises a lot of questions.
Why is the 42-year-old, six-time Super Bowl champion and four-time Super Bowl MVP, and 14-time Pro Bowl selection leaving the Patriots?
Maybe its because what was considered a solid working partnership with the only head coach that he has ever had in his 20-year career with the Patriots Bill Belichick.
The last two years, Brady has his contract adjusted with no years added on, which made the unthinkable of him not concluding his career in the place that it began more possible and became a reality, something that ESPN’s Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter brought up during “NFL Monday Night Countdown” back in October.
Together, Brady and Belichick in 20 seasons together, the longest run in the history of the NFL, National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB) and National Hockey League (NHL) history according to the Elias Sports Bureau, won six Super Bowl titles in nine appearances on Super Sunday. They helped the Patriots win 17 AFC East Division titles since Brady became the full-time starter in 2001, which includes winning the last 11 in a row and never finishing worse than second in the AFC East. To put that into context, the rest of the AFC East in the New York Jets, Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills have combined for just two AFC East division crowns (Jets 2002: 9-7 record and Dolphins 2008: 11-5 record).
“Tom and I will always have a great relationship built on love admiration, respect and appreciation,” Coach Belichick said in a statement about Brady. “Tom’s success as a player and his character as a person are exceptional. Nothing about the end of Tom’s Patriot career changes how unfathomably spectacular it was. With his relentless competitiveness and longevity, he earned everyone’s adoration and will be celebrated forever. It has been a privilege to coach Tom Brady for 20 years.”
Belichick added, “Tom lived and perpetuated our culture…he was a tone setter. He didn’t just win. He won championships over and over again. He earned everyone’s adoration and will be celebrated forever. He’s a special person and the greatest quarterback of all-time. I’m extremely grateful for what he did for our team and me personally.”
That run of greatness in the regular season consisted of a 219-64 mark, winning at least 10 games in 18 of those 20 seasons, including 17 straight seasons of winning at least 10 games, winning at least 12 games in 12 of those seasons, which included their perfect 16-0 season in 2007, where they lost 17-14 in Super Bowl XLII to the New York Giants on Feb. 3, 2008.
The postseason record was just as glistening as the Patriots with Brady under center went 30-11, which included going 6-3 on Super Bowl Sunday.
It is that kind of sterling run of success is how longtime Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert Kraft summed up the emotions of Brady’s departure around the greater Boston area by saying in a statement on Tuesday he was “very, very sad.”
Mr. Kraft also said when Brady visited him at his home to break the news of his departure from the Patriots, “very emotional. Sadness, but also great appreciation and love.”
Mr. Kraft added that his meeting with Brady was a reflection of their relationship over two decades, relaying that Brady told him that moving on was the best for him to do at this stage of his career.
“I love him like a son,” Mr. Kraft told ESPN’s Patriots reporter Mike Reiss following Brady’s announcement on Tuesday morning. “Tommy initiated contact last night and come over. We had a positive, respectful discussion. It’s not the way I want it to end, but I wanted him to do what is in his best personal interest. After 20 years with us, he has earned that right. I want him to do what is in his best personal interest.”
It is also fair to wonder that like Brady said he just wanted a fresh start and a different lifestyle somewhere else as he is on the back nine of his first ballot Hall of Fame career. On top of that, perhaps he did not feel that the Patriots were no longer a legit championship contender in his eyes after their loss in the American Football Conference (AFC) Wild Card Game versus the eventual AFC runner-up in the Tennessee Titans in January.
That now brings the question who will Brady sign with as free agency is set to begin today at 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time?
It has been reported that the L.A. Chargers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football Conference (NFC) are front runners to land the three-time league MVP.
If Brady decides to sign with the Chargers, he would be competing in the same division-AFC West with the reigning league MVP Patrick Mahomes of the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Brady decides to sign with Buccaneers, he would be competing in the same division-NFC South as former Super Bowl champion and Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees of the reigning division champion New Orleans Saints, who they just agreed to a two-year, $50 million deal, according to ESPN’s Diana Russini.
Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht told Schefter that the organizations and Brady’s team have talked about a deal as recently as Monday.
“We’re waiting to see what Tom decides just like everybody else,” Licht said.
If the Bucs were to land Brady, they will be a quarterback that will value each offensive possession unlike what Jameis Winston did a season ago where he threw 30 touchdown passes, but also 30 interceptions, becoming the first quarterback in NFL history to do so.
Since coming into the league, Winston has turned the football over 23 more times than anyone else in the NFL. Brady on the other hand threw an interception on just one percent of his passes last season.
When Bucs head coach Bruce Arians was asked if the Buccaneers could win with another quarterback he said, “We can win with this one, we can definitely win with another one too.”
Over the course of his career, Coach Arians has worked with some of the best at the quarterback position in future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning, two-time Super Bowl champion Ben Roethlisberger of the Steelers and Carson Palmer.
You add to that wideouts in Mike Evans and Chris Goodwin, both of whom had over 1,000 yards receiving a season ago, the possibilities of what the Bucs offensive attack could look like are endless.
The other part that is makes this possible partnership a great possibility, when Brady was drafted No. 199 overall in 2000, Licht was a member of the Patriots scouting department when that occurred.
“I think naturally, I have a fragile confidence,” Brady said to Chris Berman back in 2009 about feeling he always has something to prove when he takes the field. “Not that I can play. Not that I can lead. I want to go out there and prove it every day.”
According to Schefter as of Tuesday morning Brady has not made a decision. There was no deal with a new team in place. Brady was being open minded about the process of being a free agent.
“But I think when he comes out and makes a statement the way he did on social media, it catches the attention of the football world. And it opens up the eyes of everybody,” Schefter said on the Tuesday evening edition of ESPN’s “Sportscenter.”
“People in Tampa get nervous. People in Los Angeles (CA) get nervous. People want answers and think he’s got something in place but he doesn’t.”
“I think he recognized that he was going to be moving on from New England. And rather than sign with a team within the next 24, 48, 72 hours, whenever it is at some point this week, why not come out, have a say and farewell to the team that he spent 20 years with and then go ahead and begin his new journey, and his new adventure with a new franchise.”
For the Patriots with Brady gone, the question for them is who do they now go with at quarterback?
They have under contract now Jarrett Stidham, who they drafted in Round 4 of the 2019 NFL Draft and journeyman Cody Kessler. They might explore free agency to see what veteran quarterback they can bring in to compete for the starting job via trade like possibly Winston; Jacoby Brissett (Indianapolis Colts); Andy Dalton (Cincinnati Bengals); and Cam Newton (Carolina Panthers) or they may use one of their four picks in the first 100 of the upcoming draft at No. 23, 87, 98 or 100 to find their offensive signal caller moving forward.
What we have to remember about the Patriots is they are a team under the leadership of Coach Belichick and Mr. Kraft that makes moves either in free agency or trades out of panic.
In moments like this, they have shown they can play chess while the other 29 teams play checkers in a case like this.
The Patriots for sure have a plan in place and they will follow that plan from start to finish, beginning with Stidham getting his chance to earn the starting job and will find a veteran quarterback they are comfortable with to add to the mix as well as draft a quarterback to groom.
On Tuesday one of the greatest era’s in NFL history concluded with Tom Brady announcing via Twitter that he was moving on from the New England Patriots after being their quarterback for 20 seasons.
In those 20 seasons, he led them to as mentioned six Vince Lombardi trophies, the most by a player in NFL history. Those six Super Bowl titles are tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most in NFL history. Brady’s 30 total postseason wins are more than 27 other NFL franchises won in their individual histories. Only the Steelers, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, and San Francisco 49ers have more playoff wins than Brady has by himself.
Brady also in those 20 seasons with the Patriots earned as mentioned 219 wins, the most in NFL history. Is second all-time in passing yards and touchdown passes with 541 and 74,571, which are also the most by a player with one team in NFL history.
For two decades the Patriots, led by Tom Brady and Bill Belichick made magic together. Now that Brady and the Patriots have ended their partnership, we will see how they progress moving forward with Brady soon to sign with another team and the Patriots trying to find their offensive signal caller for hopefully the next decade at least.
“Well, there’s nothing like it. And there’s no way you can substitute what we do here in any other aspect to your life,” Brady said to Berman in 2013. “I just feel that what’s important to me…I have my family that is the most important, and football is the most important, and depending on the time of day, you know, those go back and forth.”
He added about life after football, “What do you mean after football? There’s nothing after football. This is what I was born to do and this is what I enjoy doing more than anything else.”
Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 3/17/2020 5 p.m. edition ESPN’s “Sportscenter” with Kevin Neghandi and Nicole Briscoe, with reports from Adam Schefter, Mike Reiss, and Chris Berman; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Brady; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_NFL_season; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_NFL_season.
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