Patriots

LeSean McCoy recalls asking Robert Kraft about Tom Brady leaving Patriots

"'I love Tommy. I'm mad he left.'"

By Khari Thompson

January 13, 2022

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The “I AM ATHLETE” podcast’s latest episode with former NFL running back LeSean McCoy features plenty of Patriots-related fodder, including an amusing story about how Josh McDaniels used trade secrets to help the Broncos figure out Tom Brady when McDaniels was Denver’s head coach.

McCoy also divulged another New England nugget having to do with Brady’s breakup with the team in 2020.

McCoy’s reported source: Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

The ex-running back known around the NFL as “Shady” says he bumped into Kraft at a party after Brady’s defection to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and asked how the owner felt about seeing the most decorated quarterback in NFL history leave town.

Unsurprisingly, Kraft was not happy.

“‘I love Tommy,'” McCoy recalls Kraft lamenting. “‘I’m mad he left. I told Bill [Belichick], damn it, you let Tom go win a championship. It’s time for you to go win one.'”

Sounds like Brady immediately going to another franchise and winning another Super Bowl might not just be a sore spot for Patriots fans.

Of course, Belichick has New England back in the playoffs after last year’s disappointing 7-9 finish, with rookie quarterback Mac Jones set to lead the Patriots against the division-rival Buffalo Bills this weekend. A win would inch them closer to competing for an improbable Super Bowl title.

McCoy, who played alongside Brady on Tampa Bay’s championship team in 2020, extolled Brady’s abilities both as a quarterback and as a leader as he vies for another MVP award at age 44.

“He’s the only player I’ve been around where, yo, I don’t care who’s playing this game. We’ve got ’12,'” he said. “He makes everyone believe — he’s such a good dude, he encourages the janitor. He makes the janitor feel better about himself.”

That charisma and quarterbacking excellence, McCoy said, was the reason the Patriots were great for nearly two decades. As for coach Belichick?

“[Belichick will] never win a championship again,” McCoy said. “That [expletive] is dead.”

Both Brady and Belichick have chances to add to their respective legacies this weekend as the Bucs and Patriots begin their postseasons.