Could Bill Belichick outlast Tom Brady in New England?
According to this NFL Hall-of-Fame wide receiver, that could be the case. As Fox Sports’ Cris Carter pointed out on his show, “First Thing’s First,” the New England Patriots are Belichick’s team – not Brady’s.
Carter argues that team owner Robert Kraft has placed all of the power in Belichick’s hands. He has control over not only who plays, but the guys who are signed and who are cut. In other words, he has full control over personnel decisions.
While Carter says that he believes that Brady will end his career in New England, he says it is very possible for the four-time Super Bowl MVP to end his career with another team — as Joe Montana did with the Kansas City Chiefs and Peyton Manning did with the Denver Broncos.
The former NFL receiving great starts discussing the possibility of Brady leaving the Patriots around the 2:01 mark of this clip.
“I don’t see Tom Brady playing in another uniform. He’s going to be like a Derek Jeter type. He wants to be in the same type of space that he played for one franchise. He doesn’t want to do what Montana did or Peyton had to do. But Belichick might force him to.” — @criscarter80
The most interesting quote from this video is this line by Carter, which says it all.
“Because Brady knows, yeah, the Krafts love him but they have given over everything from control to Belichick. And Belichick controls his future. Brady would like to control his future.”
Look — we all know the Patriots are the greatest dynasty in NFL history. I don’t care what anyone says, they’ve won six Super Bowl titles in the age of free agency and they’ve done it over an 18-year period where the only two constants have been Belichick and Brady. Not only have they achieved six Super Bowl victories, they’ve been to three others and they’ve never had a losing season during that stretch. Their worst season together was a 9-7 campaign in 2002 that resulted in their last non-playoff season together.
Think about how impressive that is for a second.
Creating Controversy Around Patriots?
Furthermore, we all know the media likes to try to “create” controversy and friction between Belichick and Brady in an effort to stir up the end of the dynasty. The problem is, it never succeeds.
But what Carter points out here is real — the Patriots are Belichick’s team. They’re not Brady’s team. Belichick doesn’t have a time clock on his career — it’s Brady that has a time clock to his. When you factor in that it’s Belichick who makes all of the personnel decisions, while Brad merely plays quarterback, it’s hard to argue the notion that Belichick would not only outlast Brady in New England — but it’s hard to argue that would he cut ties with Brady if he wanted to.
Evaluating the Business Side of the NFL
The NFL and sports in general, are a cold business. Who would have ever thought that Joe Montana would ever play in a uniform not belonging to the San Francisco 49ers? The guy was 4-0 in the Super Bowl — flawless in the big game — and they replaced him with a young upstart QB named Steve Young when they had the first chance to do so.
Who would have thought a franchise with a losing history prior to his arrival would make the decision to move on from Peyton Manning? Peyton literally made the Indianapolis Colts a winning franchise. His success brought the city a new stadium and enabled them to host a Super Bowl at the end of the 2011 season.
However, he didn’t end his career in Indianapolis — he ended it in Denver due to a serious neck injury.
Who would have thought that Manning would end his career with a Super Bowl victory…in a Broncos uniform.
While everything is gravy right now in New England and the team is coming off of a dominant Super Bowl to conclude the 2018 season, we all know how cold and callous Belichick is.
If push comes to shove and the egos start clashing, it’ll be Brady — not Belichick — who enters the exit door first.
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Follow D.J. Siddiqi on Twitter @DJSiddiqi
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NFL Hall-of-Fame WR Says Bill Belichick May Force Tom Brady out of New England