Tom Brady spent 20 years with the New England Patriots and enjoyed unprecedented success with the franchise that took a chance on him as a sixth-round pick in the 2000 NFL Draft.
He decided to leave the Patriots in free agency after the 2019 season and join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But according to a new book titled, "It's Better To Be Feared", written by ESPN senior writer Seth Wickersham, Brady was contemplating a career beyond the Patriots a few years prior.
Here's an excerpt from the book, posted on ESPN.com Wednesday morning:
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The Patriots won Super Bowl LI over the Atlanta Falcons in February of 2017. Brady helped lead the Patriots to two more Super Bowls -- losing to the Eagles during the 2017 season and beating the Rams in the 2018 campaign -- before leaving New England.
The ESPN story on Wickersham's book also included this related nugget on Brady:
"The strain within the franchise had been coming for years, the book says. At one point years earlier, if there was an NFL franchise in Los Angeles, Brady might have tried to force a trade there, according to those close to him."
The league now has two teams in Los Angeles, the Chargers and Rams. Brady played in Los Angeles for the first time last week when his Bucs lost to 34-24 to the Rams.
New England Patriots
The drama surrounding Brady's exit from New England isn't going to subside anytime soon given the fact he's making his much-anticipated return to Foxboro this weekend when the Bucs play the Patriots on "Sunday Night Football".
Wickersham's book officially releases Oct. 12.