Bill Belichick recalls Antonio Brown buying Tom Brady $5,000 milk

Bill Belichick spent a lot of money on milk to keep a strong relationship between Antonio Brown and Tom Brady when they were with the New England Patriots. On The Pivot Podcast, Belichick talked about how Brown bought milk for Brady that cost $5,000.

“[Antonio Brown] was only with the Patriots for 11 days,” Bill Belichick said. “Tom’s very nutrition-oriented. Tom had Antonio come stay at his house, wanted to embrace him, bring him on to the team, so forth. …Antonio ordered milk. He ordered this special milk for Brady, cost $5,000.

“To make a long story short, it kind of got mixed up and it ended up in the mail room for too long…The milk went bad. Here we are sitting here with milk… So we go out and get $5,000 worth of this special milk and give it to Brady from Antonio. Now we turn in an expense report, $5,000 worth of milk. But you know what, sometimes you just got to do the right thing, and I don’t want to ruin the relationship between Brown and Brady on this spoiled milk.”

More on Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and Antonio Brown

Tom Brady and Antonio Brown first played together with the Patriots in 2019. As Belichick mentioned, the former NFL wide receiver was only with the team for 11 days as he was released due to allegations of sexual misconduct. Brady and Brown reunited in 2020 when Brady was the starting quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. During the 2020 season, Brown and Brady helped the Buccaneers win the Super Bowl. They were back in Tampa in 2021, but Brown was released toward the end of the season after exiting the field during a game against the New York Jets.

The milk story is talked about in Belichick’s new book, The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football. While appearing on Good Morning America, the North Carolina Tar Heels head coach explained why he decided to write a book now.

“I had an opportunity to do it,” he said. “I thought about it several years ago. When you’re in a moment, you’re in the season, there’s no off-season. You’re just running. On the treadmill and running. Last year, had a little more time to do it, and was able to collect some thoughts. Brought back a lot of good memories. Some not so good ones, as well. You know, you sacking us and all that. But it was a great, great opportunity to just get some thoughts on paper and put it together.”

On3’s Steve Samra contributed to this story.