Tom Brady announces he's leaving New England

Made its own thread.

Feel like it'll be the Chargers.

Dale Arnold is saying TB (Wait, how did I not see this as inevitable??)

The report is TB to TB.

Now we go back to being an ordinary team with a lot of hope, but with little chance to win a Super Bowl. Sort of like most of the rest of the league.

Good see this coming from a mile away. I knew TB12 wasn't coming back. I was always surprised that people really thought he was coming back or that he even really wanted to come back. Perhaps if the money was there he would have or if he saw the team being drastically improved, but I can't say I blame him.

It really sucks to see a franchise player end up his career with another team. In a way that's like seeing Dwight Evans finish out his career with one last season in Baltimore after 20 in Boston, but as much as a Dewey fan I am, we're talking Tom Freaking Brady here - this is bigger and even sadder.

At this point all I can do is thank him for all of the wonderful memories he has given me. We'll never see the likes of him again.

What a terrible sports year it has been.

In February the Red Sox lose Mookie Betts, their franchise player.

In March the Patriots lose Tom Brady, their franchise player and the GOAT.

And worse, none of this even matters at this point given what else is going on in the world.

In 2021 the patriots are getting 4 more picks, plus will have over 100 million in cap space. One more thing Deshawn Watson is pissed at the Texans and has one year left.

Hopkins was under contract for three years being paid money that was the 7th highest for a WRs and got traded because he was going to sit out and not report. If Watson really wants out he can get out, like what are the Texans going to do if he sits out games?

It just doesn't seem remotely plausible. Any decision to sit out requires him to come back during the season or his contract will just toll. What's he going to do, sit out and come back, do the same thing the following year, and then get dealt after the Texans franchise him? He'd lose game checks in the short term and it'd almost certainly cost him in the long term. His reputation would take a significant hit. And from the Texans perspective, what type of trade could they make if he's sitting out once camp starts? The draft will be over and the QB jobs will be filled, it'd make more sense to squat on his rights than deal him at that point.  It's not logical timing for either side to make a trade or hold out.

Yes, it's theoretically possible for Watson to crush his team and become completely uncooperative to force his way out of town, but I can't think of one non-rookie franchise QB to sit out. It'd be entirely unprecedented unless I'm forgetting someone. Comparing a WR like Hopkins to him just doesn't work.

The Texans are in position to pay him, but they have no incentive to do it until the Mahomes contract is done. Watson should want him to set the market first too. If the Texans offer him the biggest non-Mahomes deal he has no incentive to leave. The Texans are extremely invested in Watson, and there's no reason to assume they won't pay him.

Like I said before, no quarterback has ever done what you're saying... no team has ever been in that position before. How would I find an example if no quarterback has held out like this?

Forget a hold out: name the last franchise QB to publicly ask for a trade. The quarterbacks who've asked for trades wanted more playing time (like a Jimmy G or Foles situation), or got replaced (like Sam Bradford after Wentz). The only QB's to hold out were draftees signing rookie deals.

You're suggesting the club would need to change his mind or deal him, and I agree, but they have plenty of time. Changing his mind would undoubtedly come through a contract extension. How can they change his mind if they immediately give in to his brand new trade demand? There's a difference between "dragging it out" and not immediately dealing your young franchise QB at his first request, especially given the current timing. What constitutes dragging it out, not reaching a deal within 30 days? The Texans couldn't extend him last year if they wanted to due to the CBA, and it would've made no sense to open this offseason by discussing his extension, that's something you do before or during camp. To have worthwhile contract discussions you'd at least have to go through this draft, and once this draft takes place it'll be even tougher to make a trade before the season starts. Since to my knowledge Watson hasn't done anything except quote Drake lyrics and be cryptic on social media, I doubt it'll come to this. If anything, the Hopkins trade gives them more flexibility to sign Watson to a huge deal. My main point is the Texans have more leverage here, they can control Watson for years to come. I don't see Watson trying to pull some watered down version of 2019 Antonio Brown to force his way out. He can sit out games, be a public malcontent, and he can even retire, but I don't consider self sabotage to be a credible or reasonable strategy.

This is all distracting from my first point as it relates to the Patriots and Tom Brady: Watson is not a free agent at the end of the year, because the Texans will exercise his option for 2021. After that, they'll be able to franchise him. In the unlikely scenario they trade him in the next 12 months, I'd imagine the Patriots will be the last non-AFC South team they'll want to send him. It's outrageous that Watson is listed as the betting favorite to be the 2021 Patriots quarterback given the circumstances.

Elway and Manning were draft prospects that hadn't signed their rookie deals yet. They were in a different situation than a QB in the middle of his rookie deal. If Burrows made a leverage play to avoid the Bengals it wouldn't be as shocking, because there's precedent with Elway and Eli. Watson can make it known he wants out, but to really force their hand in the short term he'd have to do something extreme, and that would hurt his own stock and reputation. Given Watson's reputation it doesn't seem very likely.

Back to Burrows, it's interesting to me that Mike Florio keeps speculating there's a chance Burrows doesn't want to play for the Bengals. A move at #1 would really change the mocks, I'd guess the Dolphins would be the favorites to trade up. It's still most likely Burrows will go to the Bengals, but this draft will be must watch television for many reasons (leading reason: there's no other live sports content).