Alex Guerrero, Tom Brady‘s personal fitness guru and TB12 business partner, was often viewed as a source of discord between Brady and Bill Belichick. Guerrero’s latest comments do nothing to change that.
Guerrero told Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald that over their two decades together, Belichick never grasped the extent to which Brady had changed and grown and needed different coaching than he needed early in his career.
“The interesting thing I think there — and this is just me, an outsider looking in — it was like Bill never really . . . I think his emotions or feelings never evolved with age,” Guerrero said. “I think in time, with Tom, as Tom got into his late 30s or early 40s, I think Bill was still trying to treat him like that 20-year-old kid that he drafted. And all the players, I think, realized Tom was different. He’s older, so he should be treated differently. And all the players, none of them would have cared that he was treated differently. I think that was such a Bill thing. He never evolved. So you can’t treat someone who’s in his 40s like they’re 20. It doesn’t work.”
Guerrero has gone with Brady from New England to Tampa Bay, and he says everything about the Buccaneers franchise is just right for Brady at this stage in his career.
“This place, we have so much fun here. We have a great time,” said Guerrero. “They’re great here. Ownership is great. The coaching is great, the management is great.”
In New England, Belichick barred Guerrero from the team facility. In Tampa, Guerrero says he’s been welcomed with open arms at the team facility, and that a lot of Brady’s Buccaneers teammates join him for additional work at the TB12 training center that Guerrero has opened near the stadium.
“There’s a large group of [players] that come, I don’t know what the number is. But there’s a large group,” Guerrero said. “We have great support over here. The ownership is super supportive, the coaching staff is super supportive. The players are supportive. So it’s been great.”
The Buccaneers have shown Brady that they value him, and that means a lot to a person in Brady’s position. It’s something Belichick probably should have done more of.
Alex Guerrero: Bill Belichick treated Tom Brady like a 20-year-old kid, not a 40-year-old man originally appeared on Pro Football Talk