Tom Brady accused of leading 'open revolt' against Belichick - report
For the past 18 years, the New England Patriots have been the class of not just the AFC, but the entire National Football League.
Quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick have won five Super Bowls, and if not for Eli Manning and his pesky New York Giants, it might have been seven.
But following a loss in Super Bowl LII to the Philadelphia Eagles, Patriots fans have to be asking themselves whether the dynasty is crumbling. After all, Brady is 40 years old, and while he hasn’t played like it, there has been a lot of speculation regarding the current state of his relationship with Belichick after all these years.
Specifically, in response to reports of tension between head coach and quarterback over Brady’s controversial trainer, Alex Guerrero, many are wondering if the era of the Patriots dominating the AFC has come to an end.
It remains to be seen whether or not the Patriots will be their usual selves next season, but all the speculation has prompted one analyst to claim that Brady is in “open revolt” against Belichick.
In a column posted Monday, NBC Sports Boston‘s Tom Curran argued that Brady, like some of his former teammates before him, is trying to push back against the way the team is run.
Curran noted that former Patriots like Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Logan Mankins and others revolted in their own way. But with Brady, it’s different.
“The pushback now is being led by Brady,” Curran wrote. “And it’s not about one thing, it’s about everything. It’s about the culture. A culture we’ve all celebrated for nearly two decades as being the reason the Patriots from 2001 through 2019 will be the standard by which all American sports dynasties are measured.”
“But when the player whose buy-in is most important — Brady — begins an open revolt, then what? What changed? Who changed? How many teammates agree with him? What next?” he added.
Though Curran didn’t provide much hard evidence for his claims, he did note that just this offseason, departing Patriots like Dion Lewis, Danny Amendola and Nate Solder have seemed to take aim at the tough atmosphere fostered by Belichick.
And though Brady has not openly lambasted the Patriots organization, there may be indications that he’s not all in on Belichick’s methods anymore.
As The Wildcard told readers on Sunday, Brady is skipping the team’s voluntary offseason workout program, which began Monday.
Though Brady is in Qatar for charity for part of the program, he’s not expected to participate even when he’s back, instead opting to train with Guerrero.
Even after Tom Brady returns from Qatar, I do not anticipate he will be a regular participant in team’s offseason program. He plans to spend more time with family and body coach Alex Guerrero. Brady did miss parts of Pats’ offseason program in 08, 09 and 10 so not unprecedented.
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) April 16, 2018
Ross Tucker, former Patriot who currently works for NBC Sports, hit the nail on the head when he wrote on Twitter, “There are some teams where it’s not a big deal if guys miss part of the offseason program. New England is not one of them.”
There are some teams where it's not a big deal if guys miss part of the offseason program.
New England is not one of them.
— Ross Tucker (@RossTuckerNFL) April 15, 2018
Still, Brady isn’t the only high-profile Patriots player to miss the offseason program — tight end Rob Gronkowski is skipping it as well.
Last week, Belichick tried to downplay the fact that some players won’t be in attendance.
“We have the voluntary offseason program that starts on Monday,” Belichick said. “It will be heavily attended, but I know there are a couple players that I’ve talked to that have other commitments, but that’s the way it always is. So, not really anything new there.”
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