Tom Brady, former quarterback of the New England Patriots, has decided to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brady signed a two-year, $50 million contract on March 20th, 2020 to finally make his free agency decision official. Many fans and analysts debated whether he would choose to stay with the Patriots, the franchise that drafted him as the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL Draft, or play for another team. Although the predictions were split roughly 50/50, everyone was still surprised when Tom Brady tweeted his goodbye to the New England Patriots.
Patriots fans mourned, and fans of other teams rejoiced.
However, fans of teams in the NFC South, the division the Buccaneers are in, do not express the same joy as other fans because they are now going to have to compete with a Buccaneers team lead by Tom Brady, the greatest of all time, Mike Evans, a 6’5 wide receiver, Chris Godwin, another stellar wide receiver, and defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. As soon as the news of Tom Brady’s departure broke many began speculating as to why he decided to leave. During the past week news has broke that a major reason for Brady’s decision is that Belichick, the head coach of the New England Patriots, offered to trade Brady to the San Francisco 49ers in 2017. The owner of the Patriots shut down this trade as soon as he learned of it, but Brady’s relationship with his head coach has not been the same since the incident.
As a Patriots fan, I understand that it is easy to blame Belichick and be angry at Tom Brady for leaving. Nevertheless, I think it is important to celebrate Brady’s incredible accomplishments as a New England Patriot and look back on the last 20 seasons with pride. He won our franchise 6 Super Bowls, taking part in 9, and brought the people of Boston and all Patriots fans great joy. His football IQ and leadership abilities are one of a kind. It is devastating to lose such an amazing talent, but his contributions to the sport and to the Patriots franchise will never be forgotten.
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