2020 didn’t start the way Patriots fans hoped it would, as Tom Brady left New England after 20 seasons with the franchise.
And according to one report which surfaced Sunday, an incident in 2017 appears to be a precursor of what has taken place.
ESPN’s Seth Wickersham painted a picture of an unhappy Brady seeking a contract extension in late 2017. It prompted Brady to meet with head coach Bill Belichick about the issue, though things apparently didn’t go smoothly.
Here’s more of what Wickersham had to say:
“Brady made it clear that he was playing football until his mid-40s. He preferred to sign a deal to ensure that he retired a Patriot, but if the team refused, he was fine moving on. He wanted clarity. He met with Belichick, and the meeting ended with a “blowup,” a source said. He met with Kraft. He got mixed signals. Team president Jonathan Kraft told NFL Network in January 2018 that Brady had “earned the right” to decide when he wanted to stop playing for the team. On the other hand, that right never came in the form of a contract extension, at least not one Brady felt would last the rest of his career.”
The rest, they say, is history.
