Lukewarm Sendoff For Tom Brady, Who Joins Tampa Bay

While the rest of the sporting world stands still, the landscape of the NFL has changed irrevocably. The Tom Brady era is over, at least for the New England Patriots.

Tom Brady ended his two-decade spell with the Patriots when he announced on Tuesday that he was leaving the team.

There won’t be a protracted free agency saga with regards to where he will end up. Despite not becoming a free agent until Wednesday 4pm, it appears that Tom Brady will join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

Brady played for the New England Patriots for 20 years. This period of utter dominance, in the Bill Belichick dynasty, yielded six Super Bowl wins.

Want $250 to bet on NFL futures?

Reports that Brady would join the Bucs began in the immediate aftermath of his statement. The move was all but confirmed by the NFL, who tweeted a cartoon of him in a Tampa Bay uniform.

Bill Belichick, in a statement, was effusive in his praise for the man he coached for 20 years. Belichick said Brady is “a special person and the greatest quarterback of all time.”

However, the opening line of his statement betrayed the lukewarm way their period of greatness together ended.

“Nothing about the end of Tom’s Patriots career changes how unfathomably spectacular it was,” Belichick said.

There are suggestions that the Patriots front office didn’t exactly try everything they could to get Brady to stay. Certainly, the organization didn’t act like it was about to lose the greatest quarterback of all time.

Read: Raiders Bolster Defense, But Need Secondary Pieces

Belichick has never been a guy to do anything to make it work with a wantaway or older player. The way he allowed Rob Gronkowski to leave, and then didn’t consider resigning him last year when New England were in need is testament to that. All eyes will be on Tampa Bay next year as Brady, at 42 years old, lines up for his second ever NFL team.