I dont think its the end, they are all tethered to one another whether they like it or not. Not hard to believe that Kraft, Brady and Belichick would all have large ego's. Nothing i've ever heard about Belichick makes me think that he is anything but a football lifer and I doubt he wants to walk away. I've always thought that Wickersham and Van Natta write good pieces on ESPN, so I have no real reason to disbelieve any of this but it is a bit short on facts and full of un named sources and what could be termed hearsay.
I wonder if this piece even gets written in Garoppolo goes to SF and looks average. Obviously Kraft stays, and its hard to see a better option out the for Brady or Belichick so I think they just carry on for another year at least. Its hard to think of an all time great quarterback that stayed with one team for his whole career and left on his own terms, apart from Elway. Montana, Manning, Favre etc situations all became a bit unsatisfactory to differing degrees.
If it is the end, then so be it, its been a tremendous run. Been amazing that Patricia and especially McDaniels have stayed as Coordinators for so long really given the dearth of HC talent in the NFL. And in Flores and Daboll, they have guys ready to step up. Maybe we only win 11 games next season...