Tom Brady didn’t seem to love the idea of Leonard Fournette joining the Patriots.
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Earlier this offseason, Fournette spent a day in Foxborough before re-signing with the Buccaneers. Given that Fournette returned to Tampa Bay the very next day, it looks like he used as the Patriots as leverage.
At the least, he got Brady’s attention.
At minicamp Tuesday, Fournette told reporters that Brady had a humorous reaction to the visit. “What’s your a— doing up there?,” he texted.
It’s not surprising that Brady wanted Fournette back with the Buccaneers. The 2017 first-round pick has resurrected his career in Tampa, ranking sixth among all NFL running backs with 1,266 yards from scrimmage. It was a great encore to his 2020 postseason run, in which he led the Bucs with 448 scrimmage yards and four touchdowns on their way to the Super Bowl. (Fournette rushed for 135 yards in Super Bowl LV as the Buccaneers beat the Chiefs.)
Brady also may enjoy some satisfaction from outmuscling the Patriots in free agency. For years, veteran players took discounted deals to join him in New England.
Now, they’re doing it to play in Tampa. Besides Fournette, Brady has also recruited Rob Gronkowski, , Ndamukong Suh, Richard Sherman and Antonio Brown.
Most of those have worked out -- and one blew up catastrophically. That's a pretty good batting average.
When it comes to recruiting, we can comfortably say Brady is ahead of Belichick.