So when signing a new contract in February that would extend his stay in Foxborough but save the team up-front money, he didn't make any suggestions about the team's free agency plans. (photo: cerebusfangirl, Flickr)
Not even suggestions that would improve the odds of him getting back his top target for the past half-decade in Wes Welker.
“Those aren’t my demands," Brady told WEEI Thursday. "I want us to field as competitive a team as we possibly can. And I have all the trust in the world that Mr. [Robert] Kraft and Jonathan [Kraft] and coach [Bill] Belichick will do that. There’s nothing about me, I don’t say that, I’m not general manager, I can’t say, ‘Look, I do this, you do this.’
“That’s what my decision was. That was kind of a value proposition for me, wanting to be in this system with coach Belichick and the other players that I’ve been able to play with. I think we are going to field a competitive team."
New England lost -- or showed Welker the door -- to free agency, and the 32-year-old wideout signed on with Peyton Manning's Denver Broncos. The Patriots signed former St. Louis Rams receiver Danny Amendola in a corresponding move, while acquiring a handful of depth receivers via free agency and drafting a pair of wideouts they think are the future at the position.
“There’s quite a few new guys on the roster, certainly at the receiver position, almost the entire group,” Brady said. “So, as many days of practice as we can get, as many opportunities that we can have to actually get out there and throw the ball together in a competitive environment, I think that’s where the improvement comes."
It's hard to imagine Brady did absolutely no lobbying at all for the team to return the NFL's most productive receiver over the past six years, but he has Patriotsspeek down to a tee.
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