Bill Belichick on Monday claimed the New England Patriots were hoping to retain Tom Brady in free agency last year.
So, why then did Brady elect to leave his NFL home of two decades for a new destination?
Football fans and media members alike over the past year-plus have answered that question with far-fetched theories and hot takes. But Charlie Weis, Brady's offensive coordinator in New England for four seasons, believes the future Hall of Fame quarterback's line of thinking was pretty straightforward.
"I'm just saying that Tommy looked around and he found himself a place -- we can talk about how the different personalities of the head coaches and how they do things all we want -- but really at the end of the day is, it's the guys he's playing with," Weis told NBC Sports Boston's Tom E. Curran. "Because the coaching staff, no matter where he went, they would have kind of figured it out eventually. Eventually they would have come to a meeting of the minds, that would happen no matter where he went. Okay, but very few teams that he was going to go to, had a stable of guys like that to be dealing with.
"I think Tom just went to a better situation offensively. I mean, he’s playing with better players. No disrespect. That's no disrespect to the guys in New England. But look at the talent that he's got around him. If I asked you right now, who's the number one receiver, could you give me one?"
It didn't like long for Brady to prove he might the right call, as he won his seventh career Super Bowl in his first go-around with Tampa Bay. TB12 will look to offer another reminder Sunday night when the Bucs visit the Patriots.
