NY Jets: Chances Tom Brady leaves in 2020 have dramatically increased

Tom Brady leaving New England this offseason has suddenly become more realistic. Here’s why that’s good news for the NY Jets and the details.

It has been widely speculated for the last 12 months or so that future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady could leave New England sooner rather than later.

While “widely speculated”, many still had their doubts if this possibility would ever come to fruition.

This week the faint possibility has become very real.

NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport revealed recently gave us a significant update on the situation:

“There’s a reason why Tom Brady was allowed the option to test free agency this upcoming March. Due to his contract, he can’t be franchise or transition tagged and has a clear path to free agency.

From what I understand if Tom Brady feels the Patriots are his best landing spot after testing the waters and on the other side of the coin if Bill Belichick decides Tom is his best option, they’ll feel that their continued partnership is meant to be.

Kraft wanted them to get apart, see what’s out there and then reconvene. If it works out for 2020 then everyone will be happy they went through the process.”

https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1226935151202095106

So what’s the news here?

Despite the fact we all knew that Tom Brady was set to be an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career after the 2019 season, many of us thought he would simply re-sign with the team ahead of free agency.

Robert Kraft has now confirmed that Tom will indeed see out this process and explore his options. The fact that he’s actually going through the process has dramatically increased the chances of him leaving the Patriots’ organization.

This is great news for the NY Jets.

Since 2003, New England has won the division 16 out of the last 17 years. The only time they didn’t win during that span (2008) Tom Brady was injured in the Week 1 matchup vs the Kansas City Chiefs and the team lost the division on a tie-breaker to the Chad Pennington led Miami Dolphins.

Tom Brady has six Super Bowl championships, four Super Bowl MVP awards, three NFL MVP awards, 14 Pro Bowls, has thrown 541 touchdown passes, and quite frankly has owned the NY Jets throughout his tenure.

Tom has 29 regular-season wins against the Jets (which is the second-most all-time by any one player against a single opponent). Brady also holds the mantle for first place on that list (he’s beaten the Buffalo Bills 32 times in the regular season).

The sooner Brady leaves, the sooner the NY Jets and every other team in the AFC East has a legitimate chance to dethrone New England. Hopefully, we’ll get to enjoy that reality in 2020.