Bill Belichick Not Ready to Discuss Tom Brady's Future with Patriots

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is not ready to discuss Tom Brady's potential retirement or free agency yet

Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick told reporters that "nobody has thought about the future" just one day after the team was eliminated from the playoffs with a 20–13 loss to the Tennessee Titans.

Belichick deflected on any specifics about quarterback Tom Brady or the team's plans for next year.

 "Honestly, look, I know it's out there just like there are a lot of other things out there," Belichick said, according to ESPN. "We could bring up 50 questions just like that one. I told you what my state is on that. So you can ask all 50 of them and it's going to be the same answer 50 times. We've been working on Tennessee, it's 12 hours after the game, I'm not going to talk a lot of things about the future because I'm not prepared to talk about it."

Belichick acknowledged that Brady is "an iconic figure" for the Patriots organization. After the game, Brady spoke with reporters and pushed back on the idea of retiring. He said it was "pretty unlikely" and "hopefully unlikely" that he decides to call it a career after 20 years in the league. The 42-year-old will become a free agent in March.

Brady is coming off a season in which he threw for 4,057 yards, 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions. His final pass of the 2019-20 season was a pick-six to Logan Ryan that sealed the Titans' victory and squashed any hope of a comeback.

Brady has repeatedly said he would like to play beyond 45 years old.