Report: Tom Brady 'Seriously' Considered Leaving Patriots Camp Due to Contract

Tom Brady announced Tuesday that he'll be leaving the New England Patriots, but it's a decision that has been brewing for some time. 

According to a report from Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports, "Before the 2019 season, it took Brady seriously considering walking out of training camp before the Patriots gave him a raise and agreed to remove the franchise tag for 2020."

Brady eventually got a reworked deal, which set the stage for his free agency this offseason and ultimate departure:

Curran also noted that the Patriots never made an offer to Brady this offseason and that the two sides had just one phone conversation. And he reported that Brady waited to publicly announce his departure from New England until now "to make sure an offer would crystallize—and it did with Tampa Bay and the Los Angeles Chargers."

Additionally, the Patriots made it "very clear to Brady over the past few years that they weren't in it with him for the long haul anymore. They made it clear before the 2018 season when—instead of the extension he'd been trying to extract—he was given some incentives to hit in order to sweeten his salary."

So as Curran noted, instead of taking any offers he received on the open market back to the Patriots to see if they would match, Brady decided it was time to move on. 

Both sides could make valid points in their standoff.

Brady could make the point that he's the greatest quarterback in history, a six-time champion who had taken pay cuts during his time with New England to help the team fill other needs in the roster (he also said in May 2019 he could afford to because his wife Gisele Bundchen makes a lot of money). He could argue that he's earned the right to be overpaid at this point. 

The Patriots could argue that Brady is 42 and starting to show signs of decline. They could argue that giving him a long-term and lucrative contract extension at this point in his career—when his performance could potentially fall off a cliff at any point—isn't worth the risk. Belichick's Patriots have always prized pragmatism above all else. 

Both sides made their arguments. Neither side budged. After 20 years, it was time to part ways.