New report claims Tom Brady wanted former OC to replace Bill Belichick

Remember when Tom Brady abruptly retired and made plans to do so with the New England Patriots? That lasted all of 39 days, as the 44-year-old quarterback made the not-so surprising decision to unretire this past weekend.

Despite being linked with a move to the 49ers, Brady intends on returning to the Buccaneers, whose latest roster moves — trading for Shaq Mason, extending Ryan Jensen and Chris Godwin, and signing Russell Gage — indicate they’re building around TB12.

Could Brady’s return to Tampa Bay lead to a potential coaching change, too? During a recent appearance on NBC Sports Boston, the MMQB’s Albert Breer speculated on Bruce Arians’ job security after the Buccaneers crashed out of the playoffs in the Divisional Round.

It remains to be seen, but after determining Arians is likely to return as head coach, Breer dropped a bomb concerning Brady’s and Bill Belichick’s relationship. Because why not?!

According to Breer, disagreements between Brady and Belichick in 2017 apparently led to Brady endorsing Bill O’Brien as Belichick’s potential successor if the Patriots were forced into picking between the QB and head coach.

During a power struggle with Bill Belichick in 2017, Tom Brady reportedly signed off on Bill O’Brien as the Patriots’ next head coach.

Here’s what Breer had to say on the matter.

"(Bill O’Brien) was who was going to be the head coach. That’s who Tom Brady helped line up as the head coach, if he had won the power struggle with Bill Belichick in in 2017. If Belichick is outta here, after everything that happened in’ 17, I’m telling you Bill O’Brien would be the head guy."

Well, suffice it to say we didn’t see this coming? Could you imagine if O’Brien had replaced Belichick in 2017? And what exactly happened between Brady and Belichick that had the legendary QB ready to end their relationship?

There’s no way to know if this is true, but there was significant buzz around the NFL that year that Belichick originally offered Brady (instead of Jimmy Garoppolo) in trade discussions with the 49ers. Whatever happened, Breer believes it was enough to compel Brady to browse through potential head coaching candidates.

It’s funny how things ended up working out for the Patriots. In 2017, Brady took home his third league MVP award and New England won the Super Bowl, their third in five years, in a defensive slugfest against Rams the following year.

As for O’Brien, he was busy falling on his face as the Texans’ lead personnel decision-maker. While he was a sad excuse of a general manager, O’Brien’s 52-48 career coaching record proves he’s a better leader than folks give him credit for.

Having said that, Patriots fans are likely just fine with how things played out, even though Brady left after the 2019 season.

Tom Brady announces return to Tampa in annoying unretirement bombshell

New England Patriots legend Tom Brady has unretired and will rejoin the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for Season 23. What a joke, Tommy.