Former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is reportedly signing a deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and maybe New England should've tried a bit harder to keep him.
On this week's episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast, Tom E. Curran discusses why he believes the Patriots would've tried harder if they really wanted Brady to stay in New England, among other topics.
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Curran notes that if Bill Belichick really wanted Brady around for the long haul, he would've started negotiations long before the tampering period began on Monday.
If the Patriots wanted him to stay, if the Patriots wanted to negotiate they would have exchanged numbers and gotten to the table with him and conversed before this tampering period began. And when the tampering period began and the offers crystalized, that's when Brady said 'you know what, they're not going to call. Every indication they've sent me in the past few years about how they feel about continuing on with me no matter how much they value me, no matter how much they love me, no matter how much we're part of the same family, the end of my economic value to them has come and gone. We need to move on here,' and that's what they're doing.
That's why I hope we can look at this parting and instead of necessarily laying complete blame, we could discuss reasons for why things happened and I don't blame Bill Belichick for doing what he's always done which is to try and make things as economically sound as he can for his team.
Listen and subscribe to Tom E. Curran's Patriots Talk Podcast:
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Although Patriots owner Robert Kraft was playing the blame game Tuesday saying Brady wanted to leave, he may have only wanted to leave because he had tired of Belichick's approach and the lack of offensive weapons being brought in for the future Hall of Fame QB to work with.
Belichick making his team "economically sound" has resulted in Brady and linebacker Kyle Van Noy signing big deals to play elsewhere. So, cutting payroll doesn't necessarily help the Patriots become a better team in the coming months.
Who has more to lose in 2020, Belichick or Brady? Curran answers that question later in the pod. To hear more about the lack of negotiations that led to Brady's departure, how Belichick will do without his safety net in Brady and reflections on Brady's career in New England, check out this week's episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast on the NBC Sports Boston Podcast Network or on YouTube.