Star quarterback Tom Brady leaves team after 20 years

Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Beall, Wikipedia

After 20 years and six Super Bowl wins, star quarterback Tom Brady announced in mid-March his decision to officially leave the New England Patriots.

Why did Tom Brady leave his promising run with the Patriots? Howard Stern managed to get the whole story in his latest interview with the future Buccaneer that took place on Wednesday, April 8.

Brady told Stern on “The Howard Stern Show” that the 2019 season made him realize that it was time to move on. 

“It was time,” Brady said on the show. “I accomplished everything I could in two decades with an incredible organization, an incredible group of people.”

Brady also managed to clear up any potential rumors that he had a bad relationship with the Patriots’ general manager, Bill Belichick. He expressed that there are no hard feelings towards the manager and that leaving his management was actually emotional in the final moments.

For Patriots fans, it was initially a surprise that Brady chose to leave the team after a vaguely promising feature in a Super Bowl commercial for Hulu, where he says “I’m not going anywhere” to allude to his future in the NFL. 

No one even considered that Tom Brady would leave his New England roots.

However, after his interview with Stern, it makes sense why Brady chose to leave the team towards the end of his strong career. 

In the 2019 season, there was only one wide receiver on the Patriots that met Brady’s standards: Julian Edelman. Brady refused to throw to anyone that was not Edelman, but after learning that Edelman was the only Patriot receiver with 30 catches or 400 yards, you start to understand Brady’s bold decision.

The Patriots tried signing better receivers, but it was not working in Brady’s favor.

“I don’t have any trust that this guy can help us win the game," Brady said to Stern regarding conversations he had with the Patriots’ coaches. "If you put him out there, I’m not going to throw him the ball.”

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ have two things the Patriots cannot get: Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, two wide receivers with over 1000-yards to their names. Brady chose to leave for this reason. He wanted a strong finale to his unbeatable high.

 

ddeange1@ramapo.edu