Tom Brady and Bill Belichick once again are Super Bowl champions.
The legendary quarterback-coach combo completed their 19th season together (18th with Brady as the starter) by defeating the Los Angeles Rams, 13-3, in Super Bowl LIII to win the sixth Lombardi Trophy of their historic run.
And now the questions surrounding the future of both quarterback and coach begin.
Brady has publically said he’d like to play until he’s 45 but doesn’t have a contract beyond next season. Belichick will be 67 when the 2019 season begins and has previously stated he doesn’t want to coach into his 70s. So, what does the future hold for Brady and Belichick?
ESPN’s Adam Schefter went on “The Rich Eisen Show” on Tuesday and explained why he believes it will be much of the same for the foreseeable future in Foxboro.
“Well, the thing with Bill is there is no sign of letting up,” Schefter said. “He just loves it so much. Now, at some point in time, he could decide, ‘You know what, I’ve had enough.’ But, I just can’t see his life without football because it is that important to him and it drives him that much. He is probably the most tireless person I know, the most tireless person I know, and have seen, because he’s incredible like that. I don’t care how old he is now, or how young he is, but he just keeps going and his appetite for it (never goes away). He gets to do it as long as he wants to do it.
“At some point in time, maybe he wants to move into a Bill Parcells type of role where you ward over a football team, which he does anyway, he just does it as the head coach as opposed to being an executive. If he wants to do that at some point, sure. I don’t know. Is that two years from now? Five years from now? Nobody knows. Not even him. I would assume he will outlast Brady.”
While Jonathan Kraft has offered vague answers about Brady’s contract status past next season, Schefter doesn’t think it’ll be an issue.
“As for Brady’s contract, what does it matter? They have all the cap space they need anyway,” Schefter said. “The cap is going up a ton anyway. And if you want to pay Tom Brady for all he’s accomplished, which is not the Patriot Way, so be it. He’s the one guy in NFL history you can do that for because nobody has ever done what he has and nobody will ever do what he has. If you want to reward him, fine. If you don’t, do you think Tom Brady is going to argue with you whether he deserves to be paid $28 million, or $32 million, or $36 million? What does that mean? Nothing. It doesn’t mean anything.
“I don’t know. I know we want answers to these questions, but there really aren’t any answers right now. We know Bill loves football, Tom is going to get taken care of, and we’ll let it all play out the way it does.”
It appears everything is coming up roses for the Patriots.
