There was no shortage of tension between Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, particularly at the end of their run together with the New England Patriots. However, the duo has found common ground in recent years.
To that point, in a new book from veteran author Gary Myers about the Belichick-Brady tandem, the longtime Patriots head coach made a notable admission about the quarterback’s departure ahead of the 2020 season. And while some believe Belichick was a major reason Brady left New England for Tampa Bay, Belichick told Myers he understands why Brady left, even saying the QB “made the right decision” to bolt for the Buccaneers.
“(It) was an impossible situation in New England,” Belichick told Myers, as revealed in an excerpt for the book posted on The Boston Globe website. “(Brady) absolutely made the right decision. We could put not a good team around him. Financially, after stretching for 10 years, we ran out of cap space and had to rebuild the team; 2019 was our last real opportunity to win; 2020 was a rebuild, and we were back in the playoffs in 2021.”
Bill Belichick Says Tom Brady Made ‘Right Decision’ to Leave Patriots
As Myers notes in the excerpt, though, the reason the Patriots were in such a bind was largely due to Belichick’s roster management. Bad drafting eventually caught up to him and the organization, and the Patriots had to throw money at some of those issues. Additionally, Brady largely did New England a solid for the better part of two decades by playing on a relatively manageable cap hit that allowed the team to maneuver the cap in an effective way.
Perhaps there’s more of an admission in the book about Belichick’s relationship with Brady, but it’s also slightly convenient for the coach to use the cap as a reason for the divorce. It says nothing of the “tension” Brady noted in reflecting on his move.
“The reality was, after 20 years together, a natural tension had developed between where Coach Belichick and I were headed in our careers, and where the Patriots were moving as a franchise,” Brady wrote in his newsletter earlier in 2025. “It was the kind of tension that could only be resolved by some kind of split or one of us reassessing our priorities.”
Brady’s Post-Patriots Career Proves He Made Good Decision
One other interesting note from Brady is that he revealed he used a ranking system when comparing options in free agency, on a scale of 1 to 3 with 3 being most important.
“Financial compensation was on the list, obviously,” he admitted before adding, “but it wasn’t first, and it definitely didn’t rank as a 3 in importance.”
There’s no debating who came out better in the long run, either. Brady went on to win a Super Bowl in his first season with Tampa Bay and then finished second in MVP voting as a 44-year-old in his second year with the Bucs. He played three seasons total, posting a 98.1 passer rating over that run.
The Patriots, meanwhile, did make the playoffs in 2021 with Mac Jones under center but crashed and burned from there. Ultimately, New England and Belichick parted ways after a 4-13 season in 2023.
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