NFL Writer Claims Bill Belichick's Failure to Get Tom Brady a Top Wide Receiver Resulted in QB's Departure
By Michael Luciano
Tom Brady announced Tuesday that he will not return to the New England Patriots for the 2020 season, and every football reporter across the country is scrambling to find the reason as to why TB12 has walked out on the only team he has ever known.
One increasingly proposed explanation is that Brady was frustrated with Bill Belichick for his inability to add a superstar wide receiver, as the Patriots head coach was reportedly unwilling to give up the draft capital needed to bring in a player like DeAndre Hopkins, Stefon Diggs, or Odell Beckham Jr.
Belichick's failure to get a top WR cost him Brady. That is not a theory or an assumption, that is a fact.
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) March 17, 2020
Brady has made his displeasure known going back 2 years, Belichick tried to trade for OBJ and missed out, failed time and again. Enough was enough with the lack of weapons https://t.co/roImhK8qKY
While Julian Edelman is as reliable as the day is long, Brady's other top targets last year two rookies in N'Keal Harry and Jakobi Meyers, a speedster with bad hands in Phillip Dorsett, and a revolving door of tight ends. Trading a second-round pick for Mohamed Sanu looks like quite the rough deal as well.
In addition to failed trades, Belichick parted ways with Antonio Brown, Josh Gordon, and Demaryius Thomas over the course of the 2019 season, a flurry of relationships that were likely doomed from the start. He also failed to find even a serviceable replacement for Rob Gronkowski at tight end.
Cut AB, didn’t replace Gronk, and cut Josh Gordon too
— Thomas (@thomas4293) March 17, 2020
Brady's passing game weapons last season presented a lot of room for improvement, and Belichick's hesitancy to give up draft picks might have forced his superstar quarterback out of New England. Not the most harmonious end to his time as a Patriot.