All Time NFL Great Quarterback Tom Brady Pitched himself to the Buccaneers

As most of us that follow American professional sports recently found out former New England Patriots quarterback and the all time NFL great, Tom Brady, was leaving the Patriots this offseason and pursue the free agency market of the National Football League. Shortly after that news broke, he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. What most of us didn’t realize is that Brady was the one who pitched the idea of him joining the Bucs to the Tampa Bay front office.

March 18^th, 2020 marked the first day of the free agency period in the National Football League, and that is exactly when Brady contacted the general manager of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jason Licht. According to sources the greatest NFL quarterback of all time and Licht had a nice long almost conversation lasting just under two hours. On that call apparently Brady was all business at first attempting to sell himself as to why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers should sign the 42 year old quarterback.

It did not take long for the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Bruce Arians, as well as Licht to agree that Brady would be a great fit for their struggling franchise and an agreement was immediately settled on by both parties. Although critics of Brady believe he is well past his prime and that he is no longer capable of throwing the football hard or deep downfield, the Tampa Bay executives and coaching staff highly disagree with that notion. Personnel of the Buccaneers has publicly stated that they watched recently taken tape of Brady throwing and he still possess all the arm strength and accuracy to remain as one of the elite quarterbacks in the National Football League.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Potent Offensive Weapons

This is a dream scenario for the Bucs as they have a great young core of solid players to surround Brady and his golden arm with. At the wide receiver position Tampa Bay features outstanding talent such as Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. They also are blessed with the services of OJ Howard at tight end as well as Ronald Jones II at the running back position to open up the passing game for Brady to throw all over the gridiron to his talented pass catching alliance. One of the main reasons why Brady left the New England Patriots was his lack of offensive weapons to help move the ball and put points up on the board, and it seems like that shouldn’t be a problem as long as the team remains healthy. Look for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to be much better this upcoming 2020 – 2021 NFL season now that they won’t have the turnover prone quarterback in Jameis Winston running their offense.

Antonio Brown     

As this story broke the coaches and front office executives of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers made it crystal clear that the rumors of the troubled and controversial wide receiver, Antonio Brown, may be joining the Bucs was completely untrue. Brady played briefly with Antonio Brown when he was with the New England Patriots last year, but the Patriots released Brown shortly after they signed him. They cited multiple reasons for not pursuing Brown that included they did not have the money that it would require as well as that he was a bad fit for the existing players in the organization and their locker room. In other words, they did not want to bring a head case into franchise that would most definitely cause trouble and distractions no matter how good he was on the field.

Breakdown of Brady’s New Contract with the Buccaneers

Brady’s NFL Career Statistics

Passing

Advanced Passing

Playoffs Passing

Adjusted Passing

Media Statements

“We had a great conversation — Bruce and I — we talked to him for over an hour and a half. And he made it clear in the conversation that he was very, very interested,” says the Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht. “It was almost like a recruitment on his part, telling us why it would make sense for him to come to Tampa Bay. The next call we made, we signed him, but it was at that phone call that we realized, that we felt like we had him.”

“When Arians was asked if there was one quarterback he’d pick up the phone for, he chuckled and said, Tom Brady.” 

“The tape showed to us that he had plenty of arm. In fact, we thought that he had an ideal arm for Bruce in his system,” Licht explained. “He can still throw it deep. We felt like the mobility was still the same as he’s always had, which, he’s never been able to outrun anybody. But he certainly is good in the pocket in terms of eluding pressure and with his poise and his instincts. We did not see a decline in his arm talent whatsoever. And, in fact, we feel like he could still play for over two years for us, and hopefully that’s the case.”

When Licht was asked about Bruce Arians’ strong statements regarding the troubled superstar wide receiver, Antonio Brown, he replied by saying, “Yeah, it’s not gonna happen. There’s no room. And probably not enough money. But it’s not gonna happen — it’s not a fit here. … It’s not a fit in our locker room.” 

“We feel like there’s a lot of teams that are struggling to find one really good receiver. And we have two really outstanding receivers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin,” Licht stated. “Right now, there is only so much money that can go around. There are no plans to sign any other receiver at this time. Antonio is somebody that Bruce has come out and had some words about, and Bruce knows him better than all of us. So right now, I would just say that we’re focused on other areas of our team.”