Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are often considered one of the greatest quarterback-head coach duos in NFL history, with their six Super Bowl wins as part of the New England Patriots. But their relationship eventually grew strained, ultimately leading to the legendary quarterback’s departure from New England. It has recently come to light that, despite the two moving forward on their separate paths, Tom Brady still considers Bill Belichick as one of the most pivotal figures in his career.

Highlighting this aspect of their relationship, Brady shared a story about how Belichick took an important role away from his head coaching job in the training camp ahead of the 2001 season, which helped him grow into one of the best shot callers in the NFL.

“We didn’t have a quarterback coach,” Brady said during his appearance on the Unblinded with Sean Callagy podcast. “Coach Belichick became the quasi-quarterback coach. And he would come in and instruct the quarterbacks. This is how we’re going to read defense. This is how we’re going to read coverages. This is how you’re going to understand formation, shifts, and motions. I’m going to teach all you quarterbacks how defenses are called. And it was just such an eye-opening experience for me to have Coach Belichick come in as our quarterback coach. And again, he took me under his wing. He embraced everything that I was. He knew my strengths, and we developed a very special relationship over that time.”

Bill Belichick was forced to take these responsibilities as the Patriots lost their quarterback coach, Dick Rehbein, who died of heart failure during New England’s training camp in 2001. But after this unfortunate incident, the Patriots started the season with a 0-2 record before Brady took the starting role and led the Belichick-coached side to a historic 20-17 Super Bowl victory over the St. Louis Rams.

The duo then went on a legendary 18-year run, winning six Lombardi Trophies in nine Super Bowl appearances along with 17 AFC East titles. The Brady-Belichick Patriots also finished with a combined regular season record of roughly 219-64 (.774) and 30 playoff wins.

However, as the saying goes, everything good comes to an end, and the iconic Brady-Belichick partnership fell apart in 2020 when the star quarterback left in free agency to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Addressing this breakup, Tom Brady delved into details about why he parted ways with Belichick and the Patriots.

What led to the split between Tom Brady and the Patriots in 2020?

In 2025, Tom Brady shared details about his decision to part ways with the Bill Belichick-coached New England Patriots in 2020. As Brady became a free agent ahead of the 2020 season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came calling and signed the star quarterback on a two-year contract worth $50 million. This massive deal immediately led to success as Brady helped the Bucs win Super Bowl LV before hanging up his boots in 2022.

Three years later, Brady addressed his split with the Patriots and revealed how tensions between him and Bill Belichick led to the move to Tampa.

“The reality was, after twenty years together, a natural tension had developed between where Coach Belichick and I were headed in our careers, and where the Patriots were moving as a franchise. It was the kind of tension that could only be resolved by some kind of split or one of us reassessing our priorities,” Brady wrote in his newsletter.

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Despite this friction, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are immortalized together in football history as fans continue to reminisce about the duo’s domination in the NFL over a quarter of a century.