“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” (Sir Walter Scott, 1808)
Earlier this week Bill Belichick was asked about Tom Brady leaving. To which BB answered, “I think we been all through dynamics of this. He looked at his options and made his decision. We were not as good an option as Tampa. It wasn’t a question of not wanting him. That’s for sure.”
EXCUSE YOU? Bill Belichick shoved Tom Brady out of the New England Patriots doors with GUSTO a year and a half. To make matters more confounding he shoved Brady out to bring in Cam Newton. BeliChick neatly maneuvered it as if it was a matter of finances. Which borders on pure insanity to even try. Why? Because Brady never asks for or wants top dollar. To say you cannot budget for Brady is saying you lack the skills to be a mediocre GM. It is saying you cannot budget for the Greatest QB Of All Time. Who is going to ask for less than half of what the top QB’s are earning. You, who are supposed to be a genius with the salary cap. Can’t do what would be the easiest part for any GM’s job. Fit the most important part of your team and your team’s future. Under a salary cap at a bargain-basement price. Anyone can budget that. But let us ignore that and go to a facet even more egregious. Integrity, which is another word for honesty. Bill Belichick has NO integrity.
Bill tried to slide Brady out the door about ten years ago. Using the same strategy of crying poormouth. He intimated to Brady that he should seek to play elsewhere. Patriots owner Bob Kraft stepped in and settled the matter. Instructing Belichick to do some restructuring to pay Brady the bottom of the basement salary he was seeking. When we assay that this is the same tactic you applied this time. To say you wanted Tom Brady as a New England Patriot is a lie of GIGANTIC proportions. But the way that you said it not only shows a lack of integrity. It also shows a lack of character. Character being that component of a person that doesn’t blame another for what he has initiated or done. He takes the heat for his decisions. Which is not what Coach Belichick is doing right here. Belichick is blaming Tom Brady for what he himself carried out.
The Tampa decision. ‘Free Agency’. Doe’s NOT occur until Belichick rejects paying Brady 20 mill a year in a 2-3 year contract. Mind you Mahomes is making 50 mill and Rodgers 40 mill a year. It is after Belichick does this that Tom announces he is a free agent. It is then Tampa Bay enters into conversations with him. Everyone knows the sequence of events. But Bill behaves as if everyone is an idiot. That his revisionist fantasy is actually reality. Belichick huffs and puffs circuity throughout his interviews and is allowed to get away with it. The New England sports media and the Kraft family have been buffaloed into accepting this bad behavior as normality when it isn’t. It is unmitigated arrogance. Belichick will never tell the truth. He doesn’t have to because no one holds his feet to the fire. But we, all of us, as football fans, should know the truth. We should want some level of transparency when it comes to players. Especially when it involves the player legacy. Brady out of New England is all about Bill Belichick. Not Tom Brady. Belichick wanted it. Belichick got it. It is just a shame on many levels that he will not admit it.