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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Danny Jaillet

Report: Tom Brady wanted Bill O’Brien to replace Belichick as head coach

Tom Brady announced his return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. Could Brady’s return mean a coaching change in Tampa Bay?

MMQB’s Albert Breer weighed in on this possibility this week. He does not expect a coaching change in Tampa Bay. In speaking on NBC Sports Boston Tuesday, Breer talked about how Brady wanted Bill O’Brien in New England in 2017. With a power struggle going on between the quarterback and the coach, Brady wanted O’Brien as Belichick’s successor.

Brady and Belichick would go on to appear in two more Super Bowls together. The quarterback left New England at the end of the 2022 season.

“(Bill O’Brien) was who was going to be the head coach,” Breer said during an appearance on NBC Sports Boston. “That’s who Tom Brady helped line up as the head coach, if he had won the power struggle with Bill Belichick in in 2017. If Belichick is outta here, after everything that happened in’ 17, I’m telling you Bill O’Brien would be the head guy.”

O’Brien served as the head coach of the Houston Texans from 2014 to 2020. He compiled a 52-48 regular-season record and a 2-4 playoff record. One has to wonder what Patriots history might have looked like if Bill O’Brien assumed the head coaching position.

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