Bill Belichick on Tom Brady Leaving Patriots for Bucs: 'Water Under the Bridge'

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick called Tom Brady's decision to leave the Pats to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in free agency "water under the bridge."

"We're really focused on this season and trying to look at our opportunities and make decisions and plan and prepare to be as competitive as we can be this year," Belichick told reporters Monday.

"So why would I choose a different place? It's because it was just time," Brady told Sirius XM Radio's Howard Stern on Wednesday. "I don't know what to say other than that. I had done everything—I accomplished everything I could in two decades with an incredible organization, incredible group of people—and that will never change."

After Brady's departure, Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer are the only two quarterbacks on the Patriots roster. It leaves the door open for the franchise to use an early pick in the 2020 NFL draft on a signal-caller who could compete for the starting job as a rookie.

Belichick naturally wouldn't provide much insight into New England's plans ahead of the draft, but he provided a broad assessment of this year's QB class during Monday's conference call:

"Similar to most years, there's quite a range of players and some of the systems they play in college are different—either than what we run or what traditional NFL systems would look like. Some are more closely schematically to that. Each guy has his own set of skills, his own circumstances. Some players have played well over the same period of time, some players have had an exceptional year in the past year or two—maybe 2019, in some cases 2018—and then for whatever the reasons were, the two years didn't quite match up. But that's, I'd say, about the way it always is.

"There are always a variety of things you have to try to put together and look at. Certainly there's a lot of interesting players—guys that have really good arms, can really throw the ball. Some really athletic players. Some players that have won a lot of games and shown their competitiveness and instinctiveness."

The Patriots own the 23rd overall pick in the first round. LSU's Joe Burrow and Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa will likely be long gone, but there's a large set of second-tier options the team may consider, including Justin Herbert (Oregon), Jordan Love (Utah State), Jalen Hurts (Oklahoma), Jacob Eason (Washington) and Jake Fromm (Georgia).

Although a few of those quarterbacks will likely slide into the second or third rounds, the Pats won't pick again until No. 87 at the end of Round 3 after their first-round selection. It complicates the planning should the front office decide to pass on a QB at No. 23.

Regardless, finding someone who can fill Brady's shoes after 20 years of unmatched success will be an uphill battle for Belichick and Co.