A week or so ago I wrote an article saying that New England should pay Tom Brady, and get on with it.

They decided not to do so, and Tom Brady announced his goodbye to Boston on Instagram.

It's been one hell of a ride for the Patriots with Brady in charge of the backfield. They've collected six Super Bowl rings.

It's sad that he's not ending up playing with one team for the rest of his career, like the likes of Elway, Marino and Aikman. But then again, nor did Peyton Manning, who went to the Indianapolis Colts to the Denver Broncos, and won a ring at each place.

Stats-wise, he's in the Top 3 in pass attempts, passing yards, touchdowns and pass completions. He's been thumped by defenders (he's fifth in getting sacked), but has got up and said: "I will beat you". And that was Tom Brady.

Without Tom Brady, New England would still be a perennial play-off team, but that would have been due to the ineptitude of its fellow AFC East teams, rather than the Patriots' own standout brilliance.

Tom Brady was pretty much a system quarterback for the whole of his career. Bill Belichick and his team designed an offensive scheme to get the best out of him, and it succeeded. It wasn't predicated on 'long bombs' like you saw from a lot of quarterbacks, or on the throwing on the run or out-sprinting defenders (he's actually fifth all-time in getting sacked). It was predicated on short, sharp throws, which kept defenses on their heels. And with defenses on their heels defending a lead going into the last two minutes, Brady destroyed them, because his throws could now eat up 20 to 30 yards at a time. Within a minute, he could gorge the field, be able to accurate enough to hit a receiver on the 20, and a kicker (Adam Vinateri and Scott Gostowski) would do the rest.

I don't know how many games that the Patriots won by 1, 2 or 3 points thanks to that plan, but it seemed to be tons.

But despite his good receivers, what killed him in 2019 were the drops. The Patriots, seemingly unwilling to get themselves a top wide receiving corps for their best asset, ensured a platform where one receiver - Edelman - was thrown to 153 times. The Patriots dropped the ball 34 times - nine more than in 2018.

On New England's side, I don't know if Belichick or Patriots owner Bob Kraft will regret it. Kraft has made more money than God off Brady's back in terms of merchandising revenues. They might take a $13.5 million salary cap hit in 2020, but they won't be paying Brady $15m per year for 3 years, which would be financially stupid.


So where does Brady end up?

A lot of people think Brady's going to go to the Los Angeles/Las Vegas Chargers, because Philip Rivers was released by the Chargers and moved off to Florida.

Some people think he'll take Jameis Winston's place in Tampa Bay.

I don't know. I just think it's weird to think Brady's not going to be playing at Foxboro next season.