Tom Brady and Bill Belichick didn’t quite ride off into the sunset together but the end of their time in New England together has done nothing to diminish how Belichick feels about his six-time Super Bowl champion quarterback.
Appearing on Brady’s “Let’s Go!” podcast along with Brady’s mother, Rob Gronkowski, Peyton Manning and Patrick Mahomes, Belichick congratulated Brady on his incredible career. He stated point-blank that Brady is the greatest NFL player of all-time.
“The greatest player. The greatest career. The great, great person. It was such an opportunity and an honor for me to coach Tom. I guess it’s got to end at some point. It’s the greatest one ever. Congratulations, Tom,” Belichick said, via Ari Meirov.
Belichick has long maintained that he believes Brady is one of the two greatest players of all-time. But it’s one of the few times that we’ve seen Belichick give Brady such a public display of affection right to his face.
Tom Brady was the first quarterback that Bill Belichick drafted when he took over the Patriots in 2000. After he took over for an injured Drew Bledsoe in 2001, the two began the greatest dynasty in NFL history.
Six Super Bowl wins, nine AFC title wins, 13 trips to the AFC Championship Game, 17 AFC East titles, and dozens of playoff wins defined the 20 years that they enjoyed together.
Brady is now the greatest quarterback of all-time and Belichick is now the greatest head coach of all-time.
They’ll both be immortalized in Canton someday.