NFL and MLB coach Tom House advised Bill Belichick NOT to trade a 36-year-old Tom Brady

Tom Brady’s heel turn on his retirement decision could all be thanks to a coach he brought in during the middle of his career.

Speaking to Rich Eisen, MLB and NFL throwing coach Tom House mentioned a time he advised Bill Belichick to keep Tom Brady with the New England Patriots.

House is a former MLB pitcher turned coach who most famously worked with Nolan Ryan and the Texas Rangers.  

He has also worked with NFL quarterbacks like Brady, Drew Brees, Mac Jones, Matt Ryan, Andrew Luck and Dak Prescott.

‘If you follow four basic principals – biomechanics, functional strength, mental and emotional management, and nutrition and sleep for recovery – there’s no reason an athlete can’t do at age 45 what he did at age 25,’ House said.

‘And we proved it with the Texas Rangers and six of the 10 pitchers I had in that timeframe pitched in their mid-40s.

‘By the time I got around to Tom Brady… walking by [Bill] Belichick’s office one time when we had been out on the field throwing the football, Belichick called us in and said, “OK, tell me why I shouldn’t trade Tom Brady.”  And at this time, I think Brady was 37, 36.

When Brady was 37, he led New England Patriots to a fourth Super Bowl title over the Seahawks

‘And I just said, “Well, Bill the research shows that if Tom does what he’s supposed to do – all those four things I just mentioned, which he does to the T – there’s no reason he shouldn’t play until he’s 45.” And here we are.’

Brady’s seasons when he was 36 and 37 ended with a loss in the AFC Championship to the Denver Broncos, followed by a Super Bowl XLIX title over the Seattle Seahawks.

Belichick never did trade Brady – with the pair winning three titles when Brady was aged 37, 39, and 41. The greatest quarterback of all time then left in free agency to Tampa Bay, promptly winning another title. 

House told Belichick that new tests proved a QB could continue to produce up to age 45

After being asked again, House confirmed Belichick asked him about a trade.

‘In my generation, you were done as a pitcher at age 32, 33. We proved that that wasn’t true, because of what we’d done with the Rangers. And the carryover was that when we got into football, I think… there were only two quarterbacks that were even productive into their 40s,’ he added.

‘So we just took what we learned in baseball and put it in front of the quarterbacks. Quarterbacks by the way are a lot easier to work with than pitchers are. 

‘I think they just have to be because of the volume of information they have to process in the timeframe that they have to do it in. They’re quicker thinkers than most pitchers, and if you’re a quicker thinker you’re usually a quicker learner.’