Bill Belichick, now the head football coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, recently opened up about an unusual strategy he employed to foster a positive relationship between Tom Brady and Antonio Brown during his tenure as New England Patriots head coach. The story, shared on the “The Pivot” podcast, revealed that Belichick spent $5,000 on milk to ensure the two star players could build a rapport despite the short duration of Brown’s time with the team.
The Patriots signed Antonio Brown toward the beginning of the 2,019 season following his abrupt departure from the Las Vegas Raiders. He ended up playing one game for New England and had four catches for 56 yards and a touchdown. Even as he was a one-hit wonder in Foxborough, Brady and Brown cultivated a relationship that lasted into their Tampa Bay Buccaneers years.
Belichick, in a chapter of his book The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football, recounted the story, explaining that Brown was only with the Patriots for 11 days. “One of the funniest stories in the book is the Antonio Brown story. He was only with the Patriots for 11 days,” Belichick said. “And, Tom’s very nutrition-oriented. Antonio wanted to… Tom had Antonio come and stay at his house, wanted to embrace him, bring him onto the team and so forth.
Brown ordered a special milk for Brady, it cost $5,000. To make a long story short, it kinda got mixed up and ended up in the mailroom for too long, and the milk went bad.” Belichick said the Patriots staff got $5,000 worth of milk to give Brown a helping hand.
“So, now we turn in this expense report — $5,000 worth of milk. Sometimes, you’ve just got to do the right thing, and I didn’t want to ruin the relationship between Brown and Brady on this spoiled milk,” he said.
While Brown’s time with the Patriots didn’t last long, he and Brady did go on to achieve success together with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, including a Super Bowl victory in 2020.