If Tom Brady looks at all his options in free agency, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are an interesting potential landing spot.
Tom Brady is set to become a free agent for the first time in his career, and to this point he has been vague (as expected) about his future. It’s hard to imagine him in anything other than a New England Patriots uniform, but until he re-signs the constant speculation about Brady’s options and where he could ultimately land will be out there. Retirement is also possible, but highly unlikely.
The Los Angeles Chargers, and to a lesser extent the now Las Vegas Raiders, have risen to the top of the list among the most speculated potential Brady suitors. Even at this early stage, he is surely getting some sense of what would be out there if he wants to look at all options.
But during an appearance on WEEI Thursday, Peter King of NBC Sports offered an interesting possible landing spot for Brady.
The one that I believe is the sleeping giant in this is Tampa Bay, And when I say that, if Jameis Winston is realistic with what his contract demands/requests, whatever are, in my opinion he will be the quarterback of the Bucs next year. But, I don’t know that. I am hearing some things out of Tampa that he might be, and his agents might want a little bit more money than the Bucs want to pay. And we’ll see if that pans out. We’ll definitely see.
“Look, they have a pretty good offensive line and they’ve got two excellent receivers. They’ve got a really good young tight end, and they have a very imaginative head coach and offensive coordinator in the passing game. I can’t tell you absolutely what they would do or what they are going to do, but I can tell you that they are fascinating to me because Bruce Arians isn’t coaching forever. I think he is one of those guys that all quarterbacks say, ‘Man, it would be cool to work for Bruce Arians’ because he’s such a fun offensive mind.
Bruce Arians just completed his first season as head coach in Tampa Bay, but at 67 years old with past health issues in mind he’s a relative short-timer and the team should be looking to win now. Bringing back Jameis Winston, regardless of what he’s looking for in his next contract, is a status quo move that does not move the winning needle upward.
The Buccaneers have two top-tier wide receivers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, and a promising young tight end in O.J. Howard. Breshad Perriman got an opportunity when Evans and Godwin were out at the end of this season and made the most of it, and if he’s re-signed Tampa Bay will have a nice trio of wide receivers.
The Buccaneers had the No. 1 run defense in the league during the 2019 regular season (73.8 yards per game). But they were also just 30th against the pass (270.1 yards per game) and 29th in scoring defense (28.1 points per game). Those latter things being said, the unit was fifth-best in the league in Football Outsiders’ DVOA.
Working with Arians and a set of weapons better than he had in New England this year might be appealing to Brady. Add in a defense guided by Todd Bowles that by at least one metric was not substantially worse than what the Patriots put out there this year, with some pieces sure to be added this offseason, and Tampa Bay is a fascinating possible landing spot for the four-time Super Bowl MVP.