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Tom Brady knew he was leaving Patriots before 2019 season

While the rest of the world was largely in the dark about Tom Brady’s future, the quarterback knew last fall that 2019 was likely his farewell season with the Patriots. “I don’t think there was a final, final decision until it happened, but I would say I probably knew before the start of last season …

While the rest of the world was largely in the dark about Tom Brady’s future, the quarterback knew last fall that 2019 was likely his farewell season with the Patriots.

“I don’t think there was a final, final decision until it happened, but I would say I probably knew before the start of last season that it was my last year,” Brady said Wednesday morning in an interview on the “Howard Stern Show” on SiriusXM. “I knew it was just our time, our time was coming to an end.”

Brady’s 20-year tenure with the Patriots ended with a pick-six in a first-round playoff loss to the Titans in January. Less than three months later, the 42-year-old left New England and pulled a stunner by signing with the Buccaneers on a two-year, $50 million contract.

Brady said there “wasn’t a ton of substantial” conversations with the Patriots this offseason about a new contract. But the fact that Bill Belichick didn’t want to make him a Patriot for life didn’t irk Brady, he claimed.

Tom Brady, Bill BelichickBoston Globe via Getty Images

“I never cared about legacy,” Brady said. “I could give a s–t about that. … It’s just not me. … It was just time. I had accomplished everything I could in two decades with an incredible organization, an incredible group of people. That will never change and  no one can ever take those away from me.”

Brady and Belichick won six Super Bowls together, but now all eyes will be on whether either of them can win one without the other. That has been debated for years, but Brady doesn’t buy it.

“I think it’s a pretty s–tty argument, actually, that people would say that,” Brady said. “I can’t do his job and he can’t do mine. The fact that you could say, would I be successful without him? The same level of success? I don’t believe I would have been. But I feel the same and vice versa.”

There were reports of discontent between Brady and Belichick in recent years, in part stemming from how Belichick may have wanted to keep Jimmy Garoppolo as the Patriots’ quarterback of the future. Instead, Patriots owner Robert Kraft reportedly stepped in and forced Belichick to trade Garoppolo in October 2017, keeping Brady in New England for a few more seasons.

But Brady tried to downplay any idea of souring relationships.

“I think [Belichick] has a lot of loyalty,” Brady said. “He and I have had a lot of conversations nobody has been privy to and nor should they be. So many wrong assumptions were made about our relationship or about how he felt about me. I know genuinely how he feels about me.

“I got to a point where I was an older athlete and he’s starting to plan for the future, which is what his responsibility is. I don’t fault him for that. That’s what he should be doing.”

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