Tom Brady makes shocking admission about leaving Patriots

It was reported not long after New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and head coach Bill Belichick "mutually" agreed to part ways in January that Belichick "never truly believed Brady would leave" the club as a free agent following the 2019 NFL season. 

Brady clearly felt differently about the matter roughly four years ago. 

Chad Graff of The Athletic shared on Wednesday that Brady opened up about his New England exit for Apple TV's "The Dynasty" documentary that will have its first two episodes released on Friday. 

"Me and coach Belichick, we did what we loved and competed for 20 years together," Brady said during a segment. "But I wasn’t going to sign another contract (in New England) even if I wanted to play until (I was) 50. Based on how things had gone, I wasn’t going to sign up for more of it."

Graff, who was able to screen the documentary for an early review, added that the project "feels like a referendum on how bad the Brady-Belichick relationship got and why it never had a storybook ending with the two riding off together into the sunset." 

In the film, former New England wide receiver Wes Welker "compared Brady to an abused dog for continually going back to work for Belichick." 

Earlier this winter, Tom Brady Sr., the seven-time Super Bowl champion's father, revealed that Patriots owner Robert Kraft admitted during New England's 2023 regular-season opener that Kraft "made a mistake" in not giving Brady the type of contract the signal-caller desired after the 2019 campaign. 

Brady ultimately signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in March 2020 and guided them to a Super Bowl championship in his first season with that organization. 

"Tom and I had a number of discussions about how Bill treated him," Kraft said for the documentary. "Tommy is very sensitive. He was always looking for Bill’s approval, almost in a father-son kind of way. And that’s not Bill’s style ever to give that." 

Brady and Belichick won six Super Bowl titles together from 2000 through January 2020 before they experienced what appears to have been an ugly breakup. Graff mentioned that former New England players and also Kraft described "a hostile work environment and miserable atmosphere inside the team’s headquarters" regarding the final days of the Brady-Belichick relationship. 

While 20 years undeniably is a long time for any two people to work together, some Patriots fans will be wondering what could have been considering the club missed the playoffs three times in four years after Brady's departure and before Belichick was essentially shown the door by Kraft.