ICYMI: Tom Brady had a baffling choice to replace Bill Belichick as Patriots HC

Tom Brady and Bill Belichick formed the winningest quarterback-head coach duo in NFL history. The two together have seen it all and won it all during their time in New England.

Drafted back in 2000 with the 199th overall pick, little did the Patriots know that they had picked up a diamond in the rough in Brady. Entering the season as the third-string quarterback for the side, no one could have predicted Brady to go on and win seven Super Bowl rings. Six of which came under Belichick as head coach.

But that seventh ring remains important, as it was Brady's first season away from New England that he achieved this feat. The aging quarterback wasn't signed back by the Patriots for the 2020 NFL season, and boy did Brady make them pay.

While the Patriots missed their first playoffs since 2008, Brady and his Buccaneers went on to claim Super Bowl glory. This left many to ponder whether Tom Brady truly was more important to the Patriots dynasty than one had expected.

In the end, though, the Patriots stuck with Bill Belichick. But a recent revelation suggests that if Brady were to have his say, the Patriots would have had a new head coach in Bill O'Brien.

Appearing on NBC Boston Sports, NFL insider Albert Breer suggested that Brady had singled out the former Texans head coach as the successor to Bill Belichick following the team's 2017 campaign:

“That’s who (O'Brien) was going to be the head coach. That’s who Tom Brady had helped to line up as the head coach if he had won the power struggle with Bill Belichick in 2017."

Breer stressed that if Brady had won the power ststrugglen New England, things could have been very different in the NFL:

“If Belichick is out of here after everything that happened in ’17, I’m telling you: Bill O’Brien would be the head coach.”

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While Belichick won power struggle, Tom Brady had the last laugh

Despite Belichick winning the battle against Brady, it was the quarterback who had the last laugh. At the ripe old age of 43, the six-time Super Bowl winner made it seven with a historic win against the Kansas City Chiefs to claim yet another Lombradi Trophy.

With the win, Brady eclipsed the total number of Super Bowls won by the Patriots and became the winningest quarterback in NFL history. But then again, one can't forget that Bill Belichick still has more Super Bowl rings than Brady.

Apart from his six rings with the Patriots, Belichick won two more as defensive coordinator for the New York Giants in the late 80s. But now, with Brady announcing his decision to return to the NFL for 2022, that record by Belichick too will be under threat.