We are still finding out more about Tom Brady’s fraught final years with the Patriots. Apparently, Brady’s relationship with Bill Belichick soured to such a degree, he was advocating for another former Belichick assistant to take over.
On NBC Sports Boston this week, SI’s Albert Breer said Brady wanted Bill O’Brien to replace Belichick in New England following the 2017 campaign. The revelation followed discussion about whether Brady would force the Buccaneers to jettison Bruce Arians prior to the start of the season.
“That’s who was going to be the head coach. That’s who Tom Brady had helped to line up as the head coach if he had won the power struggle with Bill Belichick in 2017,” Breer said. “If Belichick is out of here after everything that happened in ’17, I’m telling you: Bill O’Brien would be the head coach.”
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about some surreptitious plan for O’Brien to succeed Belichick. Seth Wickersham reported in his best-selling book about the Patriots, “It’s Better to Be Feared,” that O’Brien tried to get fired from his head coaching job in Houston so he could be available to the Patriots.
At the time, O’Brien was in the midst of a power struggle with then-Texans GM Rick Smith, who left in late 2017.
These apparent clandestine maneuverings may explain why Belichick reportedly hasn’t connected with O’Brien about coming back to the Patriots’ staff. We know Belichick values loyalty above all else.
It seems like O’Brien was part of a plan to overthrow him, all at the behest of Brady.
