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Message: [QUOTE="Alizona, post: 6331099, member: 444115"] I'm not sure which is more weird: A) Tom Brady retiring and then unretiring. Wacky. B) The Patriots resigning cornerback Malcolm Butler, four years after benching him during Super Bowl 52 leaving Butler crying on the bench when he realized he wasn't gonna play that day. His benching by Bill Belichick probably cost the Patriots another Super Bowl win, and worst of all, the reason why Malcolm was benched that day has never been publicly revealed. To think both sides could bury that hatchet and re-unite is also wacky. To me (B) is weirder than (A), but Tom's actions during this off season have also not been explained and they make as little sense as Malcom's situation does. My opinons obv, I live in New England so I have a front row seat to these Patriots-related stories (Brady is still considered a Patriot around these parts for obvious reasons). As far as Brady goes, his official explanation is clearly a cover story. Something quite dramatic happened behind the scenes in Tampa Bay, most like Brady was playing hardball to get something he didn't like changed. They refused to change it, he retires, then they realize it was a mistake and change whatever Tom didn't like, and then he finally returns. That's my guess, with no real proof for any of it. It wasn't the coach, because Bruce Arians is still the coach so that wasn't the reason, it was something else. Possibly more money, but they have to do all money transactions "on the record" so I don't think it was a request for more money either, or even, say, a request to get a piece of the team ownership off the books (that's not allowed since it messes up the salary cap computations). It's just wacky. There was some speculation in the New England football media that Tom may have wanted to return "home" for his final few years in the NFL - and I don't mean to New England, but his home is actually northern California where he grew up and where his father and mother apparently still live... the thought is that Tom "retired" and tried to then encourage San Francisco 49ers to sign him, but there were two problems - for one, Tampa Bay still owns his rights because he's still under contract to them... and Tampa may have refused to allow San Fran to negotiate with Tom even if they offered Tampa some compensation to make a trade. The other problem discussed is that apparently San Fran's head coach Kyle Shanahan and Tom Brady don't exactly see eye-to-eye, there is some talk that Tom's "take-charge" style wasn't to Kyle's liking (meaning, Tom has a tendency to want to run the offense as if he is the head coach) and so it is possible Kyle told ownership he didn't want or need Tom Brady... so Tom's gambit then falls thru, and that's when he "un-retires" and returns back to Tampa Bay to finish out his career. I do give some credence to this angle, Tom very clearly would have loved to end his career with the Niners, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Again, there's NO proof for any of this, it is merely interesting speculation (and not just by me, it has been discussed on New England sports radio and such). As for the Malcolm Butler thing... the talk is that Butler blew off a practice right before that Super Bowl, and Bill Belichick who is an authoritarian head coach put his foot down and adamantly refused to play Butler in that game even if it cost the Patriots the win (which many Pats fans believe it did)... which is why it is so odd to see Bill give the kid a second chance. It makes much more sense from Butler's side, because heck, all these guys want to do is make the most money they can make, their careers are short enough as it is... so I can understand how Butler can put it behind him and take the money... it's Belichick's side that makes it such a wacky story. Perhaps Bill is getting "soft" in his older years, perhaps he does feel sorry for how it ended with Malcolm and decided the kid deserves another chance... after all, even if Butler did cost the Pats a win in Super Bowl 52, there is no disputing the fact that Butler literally WON Super Bowl 49 for the Patriots with that last second goal-line interception of Russell Wilson, saving the day when it appeared the Seahawks were going to score and leave almost no time on the clock for Brady to make a last-minute game-winning drive. [/QUOTE]

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