There’s seemingly a rift between New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady’s personal trainer/business partner Alex Guerrero.
According to The Boston Globe’s Bob Hohler, several people familiar with the Patriots’ internal operations have indicated that Belichick banned Guerrero from the team plane and sideline.
So, what exactly should we make of this?
Well, perhaps it’s a minor issue, especially if Brady and the Patriots continue to play well as they seek their sixth Super Bowl title. But Stephen A. Smith can’t help but wonder whether the organization is making a big mistake, which he explained Wednesday on ESPN’s “First Take” while discussing the topic with Max Kellerman and Will Cain.
Smith’s take begins at about the 1 minute, 52-second mark in the video below.
“The man (Alex Guerrero) has been around, and obviously his prime client is Tom Brady,” Smith said. “Tom Brady is the franchise. Tom Brady is somebody whose greatness we marvel at — not just because of his performance on the field, but his durability, his reliability to go along with his capabilities.
“(Other than the 2008 season when he tore his ACL), Tom Brady has been the starting quarterback for the New England Patriots since 2001. The man has missed one game. One game. So something that this guy Alex Guerrero is doing evidently is working. And if it’s working for Tom Brady and other players want to use him, they are fully aware of the fact that there are team trainers with the New England Patriots. So if they know that they have that personnel available to them, but they still elect to use a guy that Tom Brady is using and it appears to be working for them in a fashion similar to how it’s working for Tom Brady, then what’s the damn problem if you have him around for ages?”
Brady missed almost all of the 2008 season after tearing his ACL in New England’s season-opener but otherwise has been a model of durability throughout his NFL career. It’s amazing he’s still performing at such a high level at age 40, and it’s certainly fair to question how much of his longevity is tied to Guerrero’s work with him on the side.
