Drafting and developing talent is far, far different than going out on the free agent market and "getting him toys." Brady ain't coming here and waiting 4 years to turn Edelman, the 7th rounder, into a stud slot receiver. Gronk and Hernandez were draft picks that were pretty good as rookies, but they weren't GRONK yet. Welker was a trade giving up a late 2nd rounder (and 7th).I agree that they'd need to show Tom a plan to upgrade his weapons here. 100%.
But I disagree about the "toys" comment. Obviously they were trying to win a certain way early in his career, and that worked (2001-2005) until it didn't (2006). And that's when BB went out and got Moss and Welker, which were pretty damn good toys. Then we drafted Gronk/Hernandez and transitioned from Welker to Edelman. Also great weapons (no pun intended in the case of AH).
Agree that BB dropped the ball in terms of toys in Brady's last couple seasons, but prior to that I think BB properly allocated resources and got him what he needed.
Randy Moss is the single big exception to the rule, IMO, but that was 16 years ago now. They certainly hit on some picks, Gronk being the big one, but Brady isn't coming here hoping the Pats hit on some picks in the 2023 draft. He did that dance, year after year. This team hasn't hit the broad side of a barn with a WR draft pick since like 2009 at this point. Yes, he had his weapons, still not convinced in most cases, it wasn't Brady turning them into weapons in his prime, but he's not that guy anymore. He had Evans and Godwin this season, along with Gage and Miller, an exponentially better receiving group than what the Pats had this year in New England, and we saw the frustration from Brady. BB has shown basically no interest at upgrading WR/TE through free agency in his time here, and I doubt Brady is going to take his word for it that he'll get it done.
The Agholors and Parkers and Bournes and corpses of Josh Gordon aren't going to cut it for Tom anymore.
And then, of course, there's the O line.