Tom Brady and Bill Belichick express respect, but has relationship warmed?

Tom Brady and Bill Belichick appear to have reached a common ground.

Rumors surrounding tensions between the two legends have been abundant since Brady's departure from New England in 2020, which many deemed to be the result of a soured relationship.

Those rumors took on an entirely different scope when the two met as opponents for the first time in October and exchanged nothing more than a half-hearted hug following Tampa Bay's 19-17 win over the Patriots.

And when Brady retired from football altogether this week, those frictions again became a hot topic after he failed to mention New England in his nine-page farewell letter.

But things appeared to take a turn when Belichick offered an earnest salutatory adieu, which the Patriots posted on their Twitter account. In the note, Belichick lauded Brady with the highest of praises, calling him the "best quarterback of all-time," to which Brady responded with an equal praise of Belichick's coaching prowess.

But while the love in both messages appeared to be apparent, Shannon Sharpe views their rapport as one centering more around respect than the "L" word.

"I believe this is a relationship is built on respect rather than love," Sharpe said Thursday on "Undisputed."

"I think there's a healthy level of respect. [Brady] sees the relationships of some of his peers, and thinks ‘why can’t I have that?' Because your coach is old-school. [Belichick] kept players at arm's distance, because he knew there was going to come a time that ‘I might have to bench you, I might have to cut you, I might have to trade you.’ He was never going to allow himself to get buddy-buddy with Tom, play golf or have a bite to eat. All the things that he's saying now, Brady's like ‘I was there for 20 years.’ It bothered Tom that he could not have a relationship with coach Belichick beyond player/coach."

Skip Bayless concurred and gave their dynamic a "zero" on the "love scale."

"If we change it to the ‘respect scale’, I'll give Brady a five and Belichick a begrudging seven," Bayless stated. "Their careers will [always] be pitted against each other. Right now, it's big advantage [for] Tom."

He went on to highlight a number of situations in which Belichick damaged relations between the pair in New England.

"Belichick wanted to go with Jimmy G in 2017. Brady blamed Belichick to some degree for benching Malcolm Butler in the Super Bowl loss vs. the Eagles. [Before that game], Brady got his hand stuck in Rex Burkhead's helmet ahead of the AFC Championship against ‘Sacksonville.' 12 stitches required in the palm of his throwing hand, and after the game Belichick's asked about how Brady toughed it out, and he said ‘it wasn’t exactly open-heart surgery.'

"Brady is now dealing from a huge position of strength in this rivalry. [His response] was a PR touché: ‘if Bill makes nice, OK, I’ll call you the greatest coach ever, because the advantage is on my side, I went in a pandemic to Tampa and took a 7-9 team and won the Super Bowl.'"

In Colin Cowherd's evaluation, the two were inseparable, and despite their differences, shared a longtime relationship that required camaraderie. 

"I guess fanboys in Boston were upset that [Brady] didn't mention the Patriots when he retired," Cowherd said on "The Herd."

"Get over it. People were upset that Belichick waited until Wednesday to say something nice to Tom. Belichick and Brady really matter to each other, and in the end, they liked working together. Shaq and Kobe didn't like each other, so much so that they broke up a dynasty. If you can go 20 years with somebody, you get along fine. Tom early in his career, would not have been as successful as he was without Belichick. And later, Belichick would not have been as successful as he was without Brady."

The Brady-Belichick dynamic will be a talking point for years to come, despite Brady's recent departure from the game. And now that Brady's no longer Belichick's player, nor a dreaded competitor, perhaps the two will become even more amicable as time goes by.

Nonetheless, it's nice to see reciprocated respect expressed in a partnership that produced so much success over the years.