Why Bill Belichick Spent $5K on Milk to Avoid Ruining Tom Brady and Antonio Brown's Relationship

Whatever it takes.

Tom Brady and Antonio Brown embrace. / Allen Eyestone via Imagn Content Services, LLC

"Whatever it takes."

It's a saying used to convey a simple message: We'll do anything we have to do to get the job done. In sports specifically, dealing with star players can be a challenge, and in many cases, coaches will adopt said saying in an attempt to not make a bad situation worse.

In an appearance onThe Pivot podcast with Ryan Clark, former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick—while promoting his new book, "The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football"—recounted a situation from 2019 in which he had to put that philosophy into practice during Antonio Brown’s brief stint with the team.

"Tom [Brady]'s very nutrition oriented..." he explained. "And Tom had Antonio come stay at his house. Wanted to embrace him, bring him onto the team, and so forth."

"Antonio ordered milk, this special milk, for Brady. It cost $5,000. $5,000!" he continued. "And to make a long story short, it kinda got mixed up and it ended up in the mail room for too long and by the time it—the milk went bad."

Belichick went on to say that they ended up replacing the uber expensive milk and giving it to Brady from Brown because "sometimes you just gotta do the right thing, and I didn't wanna ruin the relationship between [them] on this spoiled milk. So we spent $5,000 to replace his 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

Like I said, whatever it takes.

While Brown's stint in New England lasted just 11 days, he did end up reuniting with Brady during his time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and won a Super Bowl in the process.

Who knows, perhaps the two would have never teamed up again if Belichick didn't replace the milk.

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