Bill Belichick shared quite the story about his efforts to forge a bond between Tom Brady and Antonio Brown during the brief period when both played for the New England Patriots.
In an appearance on Ryan Clark’s “The Pivot” podcast, Belichick discussed his management of star players during his time in the NFL, and shared one example from his new book, “The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football.” The coach revealed that he spent $5,000 on milk in 2019 in order to try and strengthen the budding relationship between Brady and Brown.
“Tom had Antonio come and stay at his house, wanted to embrace him, bring him onto the team,” Belichick recalled. “Antonio ordered this special milk for Brady, cost $5,000. To make a long story short, it got mixed up and ended up in the mail room for too long, and the milk went bad.
“We go out and get $5,000 worth of this special milk, and give it to Brady from Antonio. 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.”
Bill Belichick spent $5,000 on milk to avoid ruining Tom Brady and Antonio Brown’s relationship. pic.twitter.com/byuOwCkgM9
— Mike Kadlick (@mikekadlick) May 17, 2025
Belichick’s efforts are even more amazing when you remember that Brown spent just 13 days as a member of the Patriots, as the team cut the wide receiver when misconduct allegations came to light. The coach’s efforts might have worked, as Brady seemed somewhat disappointed that the Patriots cut ties with Brown so quickly.
The Brown-Brady relationship was later revived with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where the two won a Super Bowl together. The state of that relationship now doesn’t seem quite as good, though.
Belichick undoubtedly has plenty of wild stories like this one from his coaching career. It’s probably for the best that he is focusing more on them than the controversies about his personal life that have overshadowed his book tour.
