It’s long been believed that New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick wanted Tom Brady gone even as they were still winning Super Bowls in the late-2010s. That didn’t sit well with Brady’s then-wife Gisele Bundchen.
According to Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, Patriots owner Robert Kraft recalled a meeting with Brady and Bundchen back in 2018 where Bundchen openly admonished Belichick for not treating Brady “like a man.” Kraft tried to calm the waters by offering to let Brady go elsewhere if he wanted to.
“I heard Gisele say, ‘That effin’ Belichick, he doesn’t treat my Tommy like a man,’” Kraft said. “I realized how bad the situation was, and I said, ‘Tommy, if you want to go, I’ll work it out so you can go.'”
As history shows, Brady stayed on for two more years, leading the team to a sixth Super Bowl title at the end of the 2018 season and one more trip to the playoffs the following year before leaving the team as a free agent and going to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
And as we also remember, things immediately went south for the Patriots after Brady’s departure. After 17 straight years of double-digit win seasons, the team went 7-9 in 2020 while Brady won a Super Bowl with the Buccaneers and permanently established that he was the driving force behind the Patriots’ 20-year run of success.
Belichick was dismissed at the end of the 2023 season following the worst season of his coaching career and while he’s destined for Canton, his status as the greatest coach ever will now forever be questioned over Brady’s excellence.