Report: Bill Belichick Never Wanted To Trade Tom Brady
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- It's been a wild bye week for the Patriots, as the trade of a backup quarterback has inspired various theories, much speculation, and some good old-fashioned hullabaloo.
Such is the nature of anything involving Bill Belichick. Alas, it appears as though the juiciest nugget of gossip was not entirely based in reality.
NBC Sports Boston's Tom E. Curran reported on Thursday that, despite a report from The Golf Channel's Ryan Burr which suggested otherwise, the possibility of Belichick trying or wanting to trade Tom Brady never really existed.
Curran said on "Boston Sports Tonight" later on Thursday that the reason Belichick wasn't interested in trading Brady was as obvious as you might imagine: Brady continues to be really, really good at playing quarterback.
"It never really got to brass tacks, which means it never got to the point where Bill Belichick was being told by Robert Kraft that you can't trade Tom Brady," Curran said. "Because -- and this is the most important thing, based upon conversations that we've heard this week -- Brady has thrown 44 touchdowns and four picks in his last 18 regular-season games. Why would Bill Belichick try and pop the zit of 'Let's trade Tom Brady' with ownership, when he knows it's going to drive them crazy if they bring that up? And Belichick knows, we're not going to be better if we trade Tom Brady. So it never came to that. That's so important for people to understand."
It is. It's maybe not as fun as the narrative of a major power struggle involving an all-time great head coach and an all-time great quarterback, but the truth often isn't quite as fanciful as provocative scuttlebutt.
