Tom House Says Bill Belichick Asked Him Why He Shouldn't Trade Tom Brady at Age 36

Bill Belichick apparently entertained the idea of getting rid of Tom Brady long before the future Hall of Fame quarterback wound up leaving the New England Patriots.

Appearing on The Rich Eisen Show (starts at 1:20 mark), pitching coach Tom House said Belichick once asked him around the time Brady was 36 or 37 years old why the Patriots shouldn't trade their franchise star:

House, a former Major League Baseball pitcher, is best known for his work as a coach. He has primarily coached pitchers, but has added a large group of NFL quarterbacks to his network in recent years.

Per an official bio on NationalPitching.com, House was key in developing "comprehensive, science-based methodology" to train pitchers with a mix of "human movement, physical preparation, and training programs to help pitchers and rotational athletes improve their skills."

In 2014, House revealed during an appearance on Sirius XM NFL Radio (h/t ESPN's Mike Reiss) that Brady started working with him "looking for a 1 percent gain, or just to hang on to what he's already got" as a player.

"What was happening, he was noticing his accuracy and his long ball weren't what they were three-four years ago," House said. "So we brought him to the computer, compared him to the models we have created for movement efficiency and there were really, really small things that were causing his issues."

Depending on when Belichick posed the question, the Patriots may have had a succession plan already in place. Brady turned 37 one month before the start of the 2014 season. That was the same year they used a second-round draft pick to select Jimmy Garoppolo.

Even though the Patriots remained a successful franchise, they did go 10 years between Super Bowl titles from 2004-14. They were in the Super Bowl twice and AFC Championship Game five times during that span.

ESPN's Seth Wickersham noted in January 2018 that Belichick didn't support dealing Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers midway through the 2017 season but relented after receiving a "clear mandate" from Patriots owner Robert Kraft in a meeting prior to the trade deadline.

Brady wound up leading the Patriots to three more Super Bowl titles from 2014-19 before leaving the franchise as a free agent in March 2020. He won another championship in his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

After a 40-day retirement during the offseason, Brady announced he was returning for a 23rd season at the age of 45. The three-time NFL MVP became the oldest quarterback to start a game in league history in the Bucs' 19-3 win over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1.