Tom Brady finally explains why he left New England before signing with Bucs

The recent success of Baker Mayfield and Tom Brady makes it easy for the general NFL fan to forget just how horrible the quarterback situation was for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the better part of the last two decades.

Veterans like Brian Griese, Jeff Garcia, Josh McCown, and Ryan Fitzpatrick were all trotted out at various points, none providing much success. Twice the Bucs tried to draft a franchise quarterback, first with Josh Freeman and then with Jameis Winston -- neither of which worked out.

Winston was by far the most successful Bucs quarterback of that stretch. He started 72 games and completed 61.3% of his passes for 19,737 passing yards, 121 touchdowns, and 88 interceptions for an 86.9 passer rating.

Although Winston would manage to showcase his talent in the NFL, such as amassing 5,100+ passing yards in 2019, the quarterback also needed a league-leading 626 pass attempts and tossed 30 interceptions to get there.

It was clear, despite the promise, that Winston had probably hit the ceiling of what he could do for the Bucs. That prompted the team to go all-in and sign Tom Brady when the opportunity presented itself, a move that helped lead the franchise to its second-ever Super Bowl title.

Now we have a better idea of why he left New England and helped lead the Bucs to the promised land.

Tom Brady explains why he left New England before coming to Tampa Bay in 2020

While the three-year tenure of Brady in Tampa Bay is remarkable, most NFL fans, analysts, and players were still unsure of why Brady left New England in the first place. There was plenty of speculation but nobody had really spoken on the matter in any official capacity.

In the upcoming documentary "The Dynasty," which chronicles the rise and fall of those iconic Patriots teams, Brady finally set the record straight.

"We did what we loved and competed for 20 years together," Brady said. "But I wasn't going to sign another contract [in New England] even if I wanted to play until [I was] 50. Based on how things had gone, I wasn't going to sign up for more of it."

At 43 years old, Brady was downright phenomenal in his debut season as a Buccaneer, completing 65.7% of his passes for 4,633 passing yards, 40 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and a 102.2 passer rating.

With an 11-5 regular-season record, Tampa Bay won the NFC South division title and hosted their Wild-Card game against Washington, the start of a tremendous playoff run that ended in a Super Bowl LVI win. To do so, Brady led Tampa Bay to wins over Washington, New Orleans, Green Bay, and Kansas City to win their second Super Bowl in franchise history.

To no surprise, Brady was instrumental in their stout playoff run, completing 58.7% of his passes for 1,061 passing yards, ten touchdowns, three interceptions, and a 98.1 passer rating.

Next season, Brady was arguably better than the Buccaneers' Super Bowl winning season, throwing for league-leads of 5,136 passing yards and 43 touchdowns against 12 interceptions on 67.5% completion to go 13-4 in the regular-season and win the NFC South. With that, Brady finished second in the NFL AP MVP award, and third in the NFL OPOY, while also making the All-Pro Second Team and his 15th Pro Bowl.

After his contract ended in March of 2022, Brady signed a one-year, $25 million contract to return to Tampa Bay for one final season. In 2022, Brady completed 66.8% of his passes for 4,694 passing yards, 25 touchdowns, nine interceptions, and a 90.7 passer rating to finish 8-9 and sneak into the playoffs as the No. 4 seed.

Per the documentary, Brady was the only notable Patriot who dealt with similar issues. Legendary tight end Rob Gronkowski, specialist Matthew Slater, and wide receiver Wes Welker reportedly explained the difficulties of playing for Belichick and how "brutal" Brady was treated by the end.

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