Tom Brady has options. And that seems to suit him just fine for now. The New England Patriots quarterback won’t rush into a decision.
When asked about his future after the Patriots’ 20-13 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Saturday night, Brady brushed aside predictions and acknowledged the uncertainty. With an expiring contract, he said it’s “hopefully unlikely” he retires. And with a reported clause in his contract that prohibits the Patriots from placing a franchise tag on him, Brady is free to explore free agency in 2020, if that’s what he wants. If he wants to stay with the Patriots, he might be able to do that, too. The price won’t be right. It never is when Bill Belchick is sitting across the negotiating table. But Brady could return to New England, if he makes sacrifices.
Moments before Brady faced questions about his future, Belichick was asked if he intends to bring the quarterback — likely the greatest quarterback ever to play the game — back to New England.
“Right now we just finished the game, so we’re focused on this game,” Belichick said. “I mean, really.”
On one hand, Belichick is probably shaming a reporter for asking a good question, because the coach wants to kill that line of questioning (of course Belichick has thought past this game; come on). On the other hand, Belichick probably is genuinely uncertain about how, exactly, this situation will play out. The Patriots coach probably needs to dive into the tape on his quarterback, who had one of his worst statistical seasons. And Belichick will have to make the tough decision he’s made so many times before with Drew Bledsoe, Lawyer Milloy, Rodney Harrison, Wes Welker, Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins.
Belichick has to look at the film and wonder: Is this player really worth the money? But then — and this may be where Patriots owner Bob Kraft comes in — he has to look at an even bigger picture and consider what it means to part with the face of the franchise. This isn’t like any decision Belichick has ever had to make.
The evaluation of Brady’s play won’t be easy, either. The coach, a six-time Super Bowl champion, will no doubt take into account a lackluster supporting cast for Brady (the quarterback for each of those title wins). Belichick knows better than anyone just how unsupportive that cast was. After all, the coach tried and failed to sign tight end Jared Cook and receiver Adam Humphries in free agency. Belichick re-signed Josh Gordon and drafted N’Keal Harry in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Then Belichick resorted to signing Antonio Brown (and hanging on too long to him). And finally, Belichick traded for Mohamed Sanu, for whom the Patriots’ probably overpaid, perhaps in desperation. Belichick badly wanted to help Brady, anticipating the 42-year-old quarterback couldn’t elevate the play of his surrounding skill players like he once did. Sure, Brady had receiver Julian Edelman and running back James White. But when Edelman looked fatigued by injuries (shoulder/knee) down the stretch, the Patriots offense was unimpressive. Belichick probably saw that coming — he just couldn’t do anything about it.
That’s why New England couldn’t score when it got the ball with four minutes left in the playoff loss. It seemed like the perfect moment for Brady’s magic. It seemed he’d make the Titans pay for their lack of aggression. But the Patriots didn’t even get a first down. And the truth is this: a poor outcome is what everyone should have expected after watching this offense for the last nine weeks (a span that saw the Patriots lose five games.)
So Brady failed. The Patriots failed. Belichick failed. And they will have to figure out whether they want to try again to succeed together — or whether they’d like to try to succeed separately.
The truth is that they probably don’t know what they heck they’ll do. It will probably be the hardest professional decision they ever make.
[opinary poll=”where-will-tom-brady-play-in-2020_forthe” customer=”forthewin”]