The Patriots May Have Been Blindsided By Brady Leaving

Jerry Trotta wrote a piece saying the Patriots kept Thuney for Brady. If the Patriots really did tag Joe Thuney to keep Brady happy, it shows just how much Brady screwed them by leaving.

Trotta quoted Mike Giardi of tweeting, "Thuney was surprisingly franchised tagged last winter - at least that's how the league felt - but there are those within the Pats that believed it was a show of faith for Tom Brady and his possible return. Brady instead chose Tampa and the Pats had a 15 million $$ Guard."

There were a slew of things that pointed to Brady leaving, from the way his contract got reworked in the preseason, to him putting his house up, to him stepping down from a Boston charity. So either the team was naive or Brady did a really good job of playing everything down.

Don't get me wrong, Thuney is a great player but let's be honest, the team had serious needs and could've tried to find a stand in, while signing one or two other players that fit urgent needs.

Here's a scenario that could've been a real possibility. The Patriots could've brought in a guard for 6 million and brought in Andy Dalton, who was a better fit for the team for around 8 million. Dalton took a backup role but would've taken a starting job for around that amount on a one year deal. That would've been all for what they paid Thuney.

Instead the team signed Cam Newton for next to nothing and with looking at how they ran their offense, even with how they modified the run game; they still wanted a pocket passer. Their offense clashed with Newton's abilities as a quarterback. Although to be honest, with how bad of a passer Newton is, any offense clashes with Newton's abilities to play the position except the college team Navy.

Trotta finished with the following statement and it's so true that I'm gonna let his closing words finish my article but it appears Brady did a bigger job of sticking it to the Patriots than fans realized.

"We’re not sure who was behind that thought process, but if this report is true, it certainly isn’t the best look. Nonetheless, it’s just so fitting that Brady’s free agency reportedly played a role in one of the Patriots’ most confounding roster moves in recent memory," said Jerry Trotta.

Trotta's article:
https://musketfire.com/2021/01/12/patriots-stuck-joe-thuney-tom-brady/