Tom Brady: 'No One I'd Rather Be Associated with' Than Patriots' Bill Belichick

It didn't take Tom Brady long to surprise football fans in retirement.

The legendary quarterback released the first episode of his Let's Go! podcast since he announced his retirement on Wednesday, and his guest was none other than New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.

"There's no one I'd rather be associated with," Brady said of his former coach (h/t Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald).

For his part, Belichick had nothing but praise for the future Hall of Famer, calling him "the greatest player," (h/t Mike Reiss of ESPN). "The greatest career. A great, great person. I guess it has to end at some point."

Few relationships in NFL history have been as dissected as the one between Brady and Belichick.

After all, most teams would likely allow a quarterback who won six Super Bowls decide when he would move on, but Brady ended up finishing his career on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers even after all that success.

Seth Wickersham of ESPN reported in March 2020 that the 15-time Pro Bowler "made it clear that he was playing football until his mid-40s" and "preferred to sign a deal to ensure that he retired a Patriot."

However, a meeting with Belichick about the topic apparently ended in a "blowup."

While it was a high-profile split, the partnership between coach and player will still be remembered far more for the amount of success they enjoyed together. Belichick became the Patriots head coach in 2000, which just so happened to be Brady's rookie season.

The sixth-round pick becoming a starter as quickly as he did was something of a surprise, but the Patriots won the Super Bowl in their second season together. All they did from there was win five more Lombardi Trophies.

Brady may have gotten the last laugh, as he won his seventh career Super Bowl title during his time on the Buccaneers. The Patriots haven't won a playoff game since his departure and missed the postseason entirely in 2022 at 8-9.

Yet it doesn't seem like there are any hard feelings between the pair at this point.