Insider shares how Tom Brady shocked Bill Belichick with Patriots

There's more information on how former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick reacted to superstar quarterback Tom Brady leaving the organization to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a free agent in March 2020.

"Belichick never truly believed Brady would leave," Patriots insider Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston explained in a column published on Sunday. "Even when the two men met just days before Brady’s contract expired, sources said Belichick said the Patriots couldn’t carry a salary cap hit of more than $22.5M...When Brady left for Tampa Bay, it was telling that the contract he signed -- two years, $50M, all guaranteed -- was precisely what he’d been asking the Patriots for."

Additionally, a source told Curran that Belichick "talked to (Brady) like he was still on the team, not like he was about to be a free agent" after New England lost a wild-card playoff game to the Tennessee Titans in January 2020. 

Brady, of course, guided the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl LV win over the Kansas City Chiefs to close out his first season with Tampa Bay, and he arguably should've earned Most Valuable Player honors over then-Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers for the 2021 campaign. Without Brady, Belichick missed the postseason three times in four years before Patriots owner Robert Kraft decided to go in a different direction. 

"The most painful thing for Robert Kraft, though, was seeing Brady play like a maestro in Tampa and win another Super Bowl," Curran wrote. "How, he wondered, could a player supposedly in decline go to a new team and in one year win a Super Bowl?"

Brady wasn't his dominant self for multiple reasons in the fall of 2022 but nevertheless helped those Buccaneers clinch the NFC South division title. As recently as last offseason, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan reportedly wanted to start Brady over Super Bowl LVIII QB1 Brock Purdy. 

As for Belichick, he seemingly can't land interviews for NFL head-coaching jobs from teams other than the Atlanta Falcons following his departure from New England. 

Letting Brady leave for nothing in early 2020 could ultimately go down as the biggest single mistake the NFL's greatest all-time head coach ever made during his legendary career.