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Ex-Patriot Asante Samuel Says Tom Brady 'Probably Got Tired' of Bill Belichick
May 3, 2020
Asante Samuel has a theory on why Tom Brady left New England: He got tired of playing for Bill Belichick.
"He probably just got tired of it," Samuel told TMZ Sports. "He probably got tired of some inner-circle things that he wanted. Maybe he wanted receivers and tight ends to stay there with him, and maybe Bill tried to trade them. Who knows what happened?"
Of course, this is far from an unpopular theory. There were reports of tension between Brady and Belichick at several points over the last few years, most notably regarding the quarterback's training regimen and presence of trainer Alex Guerrero.
While Brady has been laudatory of Belichick and the Patriots organization since signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he's clearly motivated to find out what he can do without Belichick.
"Right now, though, I have things to prove to myself. The only way is through," Brady wrote in The Players Tribune. "If I don't go for it, I'll never know what I could have accomplished. Wanting to do something is different from actually doing it. If I stood at the bottom of a mountain, and told myself I could scale the highest peak, but then didn't do anything about it, what's the point of that?"
The subtext: I want to win a Super Bowl without Belichick.
Samuel, who won two Super Bowls with Brady and Belichick in New England, said he was appreciative of his time with the Patriots but didn't like playing under the demanding coach.
"It worked out for me, man. It made me a better man, but it's not something I enjoyed," Samuel said.
Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians is widely regarded as one of the best players coaches in football—almost the antithesis of Belichick from a personality standpoint. That, perhaps more than anything, serves as solid evidence that Brady wanted out from under Belichick's thumb.