AP photo Former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady authored an essay on the Players Tribune about his departure from New England.

Former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady simply needed a change – and someone to have faith in his ability at his advanced age.

At least that’s how he framed his departure three weeks ago to Tampa Bay in his own essay entitled “The Only Way is Through” published Monday on the Players Tribune website.

“I’ve had so many friends and teammates over the years who’ve come and gone,” Brady said. “I was always the one guy who never had to move. As I said before, playing for one team for 20 years has been an amazing ride and experience. But doing the same thing year after year brings its own challenges. A familiar rhythm can be comforting and great.

“But it can also make you lose sight of other rhythms, newer ones that remind you of everything that hasn’t been done yet. One isn’t necessarily better than another — they’re different, is all.”

And Brady said the different atmosphere in Tampa will be something he sees as an opportunity. It seems he wants more of a voice than he had with the Patriots, without naming either the team or coach Bill Belichick.

“Playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is a change, a challenge, an opportunity to lead and collaborate, and also to be seen and heard,” he said. “And I know my time there will be as amazing in its own way as what came before.

“It will be different — that goes with the territory. Different coaches. Different players. Different programs. Right now I have no idea how to get to Raymond James Stadium, or where the meeting rooms are, or where everybody sits. It will be a learning curve, in the same way it was remembering that the Atlantic Ocean is always due east.”

Brady said in the essay that the Bucs obviously have welcomed him with open arms – and showed confidence in him. There appears to be an inference he wasn’t getting that in New England.

“The welcome and warmth I’ve gotten from the players and coaches in Tampa Bay has been so gratifying,” he said. ” For my part, I’ve loved getting to know a new group of young players.

“They’ve welcomed me as one of their own. They want to listen to what I have to say. I’m excited to be embraced fully for what I can bring to the Bucs. In turn I’m ready to embrace fully a team that is confident in what I do — and what I bring — and is willing to go on this ride with me.”

Certainly the inference is there that he wasn’t getting that with the Patriots.

“For me, playing football isn’t going to last another 10 years. In the time left, the question is, How can I keep maximizing what I do, put everything I can into it, make it the best I possibly can?,” Brady said. “At this point in my career, the only person I have to prove anything to is myself.

“Physically, I’m as capable of doing my job as I’ve ever been. Now I want to see what more I can do. I want to see how great I can be.”

And, it seems, he wants to see people – are they coaches, management? – uring him on.

“I want to hear other people say, ‘Go, man. Now that’s what we’ve been missing. That’s what we need! That’s what we’ve been looking for!’

“Deep down I know what I can do. I know what I can bring. Now I want to see it in action.”

And Brady said he welcomes the change.

“When you play for one team for two decades, change is exciting,” Brady wrote. “It’s also challenging.

“The changes and challenges I’m facing now are physical, mental and emotional…”

Brady alluded to his age, and the idea that the Buccaneers are more than behind him in his quest to play quality football the next couple of years at age 43, 44 and perhaps beyond.

“I’m trying to do things that have never been done in my sport,” he said. “That’s actually fun for me, too, because I know I can do them. When a team gives you the opportunity to do those things with them, well … if not with them, then who? ….

“I want to show everybody what I got.”

And, most like, what the Patriots now don’t have.

XXXXXX

Don’t expect Belichick and personnel VP Nick Caserio to conduct the NFL Draft later this month at the Patriots’ Gillette Stadium facility.

They will be doing it from home, as many expected.

In a memo sent out by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, made public by media outlets including ESPN, Goodell said that team facilities “will remain closed indefinitely” and thus “Clubs have been advised to conduct the 2020 Draft entirely outside of their facilities and in a fully virtual format, with club personnel in separate locations and able to communicate with one another and Draft headquarters by phone or internet.”

And, Goodell said, “Accordingly all clubs should dedicat their personnel and technology resources toward preparing for a fully Virtual NFL Draft, with personnel in separate locations.”

It’s possible Goodell will preside over the draft from his home as well.

XXXXXX

The NFL announced its All Decade Team, and three former Patriots plus head coach Bill Belichick are on it: Brady, tight end Rob Gronkowski, and kicker Stephen Gostkowski.

Newsletter