Update 5/12/2020: Tom Brady strongly denies ‘deteriorating relationship’ with Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels
Shortly after a report by veteran NFL writer Gary Myers that Tom Brady had a “deteriorating relationship” with New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, the future Hall of Fame quarterback took to social media to give his take on the story — offering a rather strong denial, calling it “nonsense” and asking for “responsible reporting”:
— Christopher Price (@cpriceglobe) May 12, 2020
As was noted in the original version of this story, the veracity of the original report cannot be confirmed by anyone other than Brady or McDaniels themselves. Now that Brady has spoken, his side — at least in a public forum — is known. McDaniels, who will likely get asked about the story once media members get access to the Patriots’ assistant coaches later during the offseason, will probably give a similar answer.
Original story 5/11/2020: Josh McDaniels reportedly played a role in Tom Brady leaving the Patriots
Of all the people on the New England Patriots’ coaching staff with whom Tom Brady had the most contact during his time with the club, Josh McDaniels stands out: McDaniels arrived in New England in 2001, the year Brady took over as starting quarterback, and worked his way up to the dual role of offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. In this capacity, he spent 13 seasons working closely alongside the future Hall of Fame passer.
Their relationship played a key role in the Patriots becoming an offensive juggernaut in 2007, and brought the team three Super Bowl titles. According to a report by long-time NFL reporter Gary Myers, however, it started to sour over the years and was one of the reasons why Brady eventually decided to leave New England as an unrestricted free agent earlier this year (quotes adapted from Twitter-speak):
Hard to present an order of why Tom Brady didn’t want to return to Patriots. But one thing has been very much overlooked, according to an excellent source: His deteriorating relationship with Josh McDaniels. Tom was worn out by Josh after all these years. That surprised me. They made seem they were brothers fighting after sideline blowups. Worse than that. Brady also wanted more input into game plan. Also, he knew it was final season in New England and said when he didn’t trust the wide receivers, and didn’t throw to them. Bad look. The Pats lacked a reliable receiver other than Julian Edelman.
Whether or not, or how much, the report is accurate cannot be said with certainly, but some of the points mentioned cannot be denied — from the Patriots’ pass catcher situation following looking bleak to Julian Edelman being the only truly reliable downfield option on the team. Those issues do not fall back on McDaniels per se given that he is “just” the coordinator and not necessarily involved with building the team, but they all could be closely tied to each other in Brady’s decision making process.
Whatever the reasons were, Brady and McDaniels will have to find success without each other moving forward. The quarterback already showed that he can do that when he won three Super Bowls under Charlie Weis and was named league MVP under Bill O’Brien. McDaniels’ résumé, on the other hand, is more up-and-down: he did do a good job molding an offense around backup quarterbacks Matt Cassel in 2008, and Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett in 2016, but struggled during his time away from New England between 2009 and 2011.