Brady: 'Natural tension' with Belichick led to split with Patriots

Tom Brady admits his relationship with former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick wasn't at its best during his final years with the team.

The future Hall of Fame quarterback opened up about the "tension" between him and Belichick in his weekly newsletter, explaining how it led to his decision to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in free agency in 2020.

"For me, it was a creeping decision that lived passively in the back of (my) mind for two to three years until March of 2020 when a whirlwind of a few days made me realize that a decision was coming sooner rather than later," Brady wrote. "The reality was, after 20 years together, a natural tension had developed between where coach Belichick and I were headed in our careers, and where the Patriots were moving as a franchise. It was the kind of tension that could only be resolved by some kind of split or one of us reassessing our priorities."

Brady and Belichick spent 20 seasons together in New England, winning 17 division titles and six Super Bowl championships. Brady went on to capture another Super Bowl title during his first season with the Bucs.

Belichick, 72, parted ways with the Patriots at the end of the 2023 season and was out of coaching in 2024. He was hired by North Carolina in December, marking his first time coaching at the collegiate level.

Brady is now a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders and works as a color commentator for the NFL on Fox.