Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have experienced plenty of success together during their time in New England. The two almost seem impossible to imagine without the other by the side after so many years and Super Bowl championships.
That may always be how it goes, but that does not mean there is a relationship without some potential friction between Belichick and Brady. Or, in this case, Belichick and Brady’s personal trainer, Alex Guerrero.
Adam Schefter of ESPN, who is as plugged into the NFL as they come, said in a radio interview Friday morning there may be a bit of turmoil between the head coach of the Patriots and the trainer most responsible for keeping Brady in good shape.
“I’ve heard whispers about that sort of thing, as well. There’s some sort of issue,” Schefter said on the Kirk & Callahan show Friday morning, according to WEEI. “I truly do not know the extent of it. I don’t know how long it has been brewing or the history of it. Clearly, there’s something there, but I don’t know what to make of it, to be honest with you.”
This potential feud has been popping up a few times this season. Just earlier this week it was reported by CBS Boston that Guerrero has not been traveling with the team on road trips as he had done in the past. When the Patriots traded Jimmy Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers, a story from ESPN The Magazine dropped hints of possible trouble behind the scenes boiling over between Belichick and Guerrero, with one friend of the coach suggesting the two were heading on a collision course.
The apparent vote of confidence comes even as Brady has found himself in the middle of a conflict between the Patriots and Guerrero, with Guerrero blaming the team’s trainers for injuries some of his clients have suffered and with Belichick making it resoundingly clear that Guerrero has no actual role on his staff. “There’s a collision coming,” a friend of Belichick’s says, and even without Garoppolo itching to supplant him, Brady is aware of the competing legacies at the heart of the Patriots’ historic success. He says now that he “hopes” he doesn’t play for anyone else, but “I’m also not naive to think I can’t.”
What does all of this mean? In the grand scheme of things, perhaps not much at all other than for some drama off the field that will be highly scrutinized and used to justify some wild speculation that Brady and the Patriots are heading to an unlikely divorce. Maybe one day, more information of the behind the scenes of the Patriots dynasty with Brady and Belichick will be revealed in some sort of tell-all book. That may shed some new light on this possible powder keg situation in New England.
But if anyone thinks the Patriots are about to be taken down by a rage-fueled rivalry between Belichick and Brady’s personal trainer, they may be sorely disappointed.
[WEEI]
