Tom Brady is still a member of the New England Patriots for the next two months, but ahead of his first foray onto the open market, the Gillette Stadium suite used by his wife Gisele Bundchen and their children has been cleaned out, and the soon-to-be free agent has moved his family from Massachusetts to Connecticut.
‘The Brady suite at Gillette Stadium where [Bundchen] has been known to watch her husband play football has been cleaned out,’ WEEI’s Greg Hill, a Boston sports radio host, told his listeners on Tuesday. ‘It would appear to be, by those who are in the know, that it has been cleaned out in way that perhaps it has never has been cleaned out before.’
Brady, 42, will become a free agent for the first time on March 18, and while he has not ruled out a return to New England, the six-time Super Bowl champion has moved out of his Brookline, Massachusetts mansion to a $9 million estate in Greenwich, Connecticut – roughly three hours from the Patriots’ home field and practice facility.
It seems unlikely Brady would sign with the New York Jets or Giants because both teams are heavily invested in young quarterbacks Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones, respectively.
Brady and Bundchen recently reduced their asking price for the Brookline mansion to $33.9 million – around $8 million less than the original listing last summer.
The couple has also owned an apartment in the Manhattan neighborhood of Tribeca for several years.
In a recent interview with Jim Gray on Westwood One Radio, Brady maintained his desire to continue playing rather than retiring, but did not give any other indication about his future plans.
‘The contract things I think a week after the season, I would say these things haven’t even started to pick up,’ Brady said. ‘That is not my concern at this point. It has been about decompressing and lessen my mind a little bit and resting my body and spending time with the people who have supported me over the last six months.
‘Like I said, I’ve loved playing football and I have loved playing for this organization, so I really don’t know what it is going to look like moving forward and I am just taking things day-by-day,’ he continued. ‘We’re a week removed from the end of our season. There’s a lot of time to figure these things out. I don’t think any player or team is ready to make any commitments at this point and I am sure as the offseason progresses those things will take care of themselves.’
Brady is welcome to re-sign with the Patriots at any time, but be cannot begin negotiating with other teams until March 16 and he cannot sign a new deal until March 18.
As for Brady’s new Connecticut home, HomesOfTheRich.com describes it as a English Manor-style mansion on a 10-acre property that features seven bedrooms, eight full and four half bathrooms, an indoor pool, a three-car garage and a tennis court.
The Brady family has not confirmed the purchase of the house, and Compass Real Estate of New York City has told reporters that the property has not been sold.
If Brady does plan to sign with the team that offers him the best chance at a seventh title, the Patriots will need to improve an offense that struggled over the second half of the season, scoring 30 points in a game only once after doing so in six of the season’s first seven weeks.
Not only did Brady struggle following the retirement of longtime tight end Rob Gronkowski, but Julian Edelman – one of his favorite targets – led the NFL with 13 dropped passes in 2019.
Brady’s decision could drag well into the offseason, as many of the NFL’s free agents will not be signed until after April’s draft, making it difficult for any player to weigh offers until the initial deals are made.
Obviously Brady’s reportedly rocky relationship with coach Bill Belichick will be critical.
The two have been complimentary towards each other in public, with Belichick saying in 2018 that there’s no quarterback he’d rather have, and Brady telling Boston radio station WEEI last year that he gets along well with his ‘great mentor.’
In 2018, however, reports surfaced of infighting between the two over disagreements between Brady’s trainer and business partner, Alex Guerrero, and the Patriots medical staff. Guerrero was ultimately banned from the sideline, but he and Brady jointly own a training center that sits near the Patriots stadium and practice facility in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
One ESPN report claimed Brady bristled as Belichick developed his presumed successor, Jimmy Garoppolo, only to have team owner Robert Kraft pressure the decorated coach into trading the young quarterback to San Francisco in October of 2017. (Garoppolo and the 49ers took the top seed in the NFC Playoffs after a 13-3 regular season)
As one team staffer told ESPN, it was Brady who ‘won’ the battle with Belichick, with the help of Kraft.