Bill Belichick might be the greatest and only NFL head coach Tom Brady has played for, but their professional camaraderie isn’t without its challenges. “We’ve…
Bill Belichick might be the greatest and only NFL head coach Tom Brady has played for, but their professional camaraderie isn’t without its challenges.
“We’ve had a great relationship, a very respectful relationship for a long time,” Brady said Monday at the Milken Institute Global Conference in California, per ESPN . “I feel like he’s the best coach in the history of the NFL. He has a management style [with] players, and he would say, ‘Look, I’m not the easiest coach to play for.’ I agree. He’s not the easiest coach to play for.
“But he’s the best for me. I think what he’s proven is that whatever talent he has, he maximizes his talent. What more could you ask of a coach than that?”
Belichick’s coaching methods have come under scrutiny in recent months, particularly his staff’s relationship with tight end Rob Gronkowski, who contemplated walking away from the game altogether following a tense training camp last year and injury-filled season. The Pro Bowler also clashed with Belichick over the controversial TB12 method, helmed by longtime Brady confidant Alex Guerrero.
Though Gronkowski will return for 2018, wide receiver Danny Amendola will not, having signed a two-year deal with the Dolphins in free agency. Following his departure in New England after five seasons, Amendola said Belichick can be “an a–hole sometimes.”
Five Lombardi trophies later, Brady, 40, is ready to make another go at a championship with Belichick, doubling down on the decision to play into his mid-40s. Asked if the nucleus of the Patriots, including Belichick and owner Robert Kraft, appreciates his efforts, the aging quarterback didn’t elaborate much.
“I plead the Fifth!” Brady quipped, before adding, “Man, that is a tough question. I think everybody in general wants to be appreciated more in their professional life, but there’s a lot of people that appreciate me way more than I ever thought was possible as part of my life. You have different influences in your life and the people I work with, they’re trying to get the best out of me. They’re trying to treat me in the way they feel is going to get the best out of me, and I’ve got to get the best out of myself.”
Brady recognizes his happiness is also derived from factors excluding football, specifically wife Gisele Bündchen and children John, Benjamin, and Vivian.
“Football is year-round for me. It’s a lot of thought, a lot of energy and emotion put into it, but I need to invest in them, too,” Brady said. “My kids are 10,8 and 5. They’re not getting younger, so I need to take time so I can be available to them, too.… I’ve really spent the last two or three months doing those things, and I think I’m really trying to fill my tank up so that when I do go back, I can go back and I think I’ll actually be, in my mind, a better player, a better teammate, because I’ll be really rejuvenated.”
Brady missed the start of the Patriots’ voluntary offseason program, taking a curiously timed charitable trip to the Middle East.
