Antonio Brown, Tom Brady, New England Patriots. (Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images)
Antonio Brown to the Buccaneers means they’re going to the Super Bowl!
Nobody is winning the 2020 NFL offseason quite like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
After seeing their 2019 season end on yet another pick-six by quarterback Jameis Winston, the Tampa Bay brass decided they couldn’t got 30/30 in 2020 again. Winston was a talented player, but was too mistake-prone for the Buccaneers to ever be a viable playoff threat in a deep NFC. The Buccaneers added Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski to the offense, and may not be done.
Former NFL general manager and writer for The Athletic Mike Lombardi, appeared on ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday morning and alluded to how the Buccaneers are planning to sign former perennial Pro Bowl wide receiver Antonio Brown. This “breaking news” caught McAfee completely off-guard, as he was pacing around his studio, trying to make sense of it all.
Popular sports talk radio host J.T. the Brick said he’s been hearing similar things like Lombardi has. Brady and Brown were briefly teammates with the New England Patriots last season. Brown even stayed with Brady and his family during his extremely short tenure with the AFC East franchise. There are other things to consider, but it’s all starting to line up for Brown to join this Mötley Crüe.
If Antonio Brown joins the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they clinched the NFC.
It’s five o’clock somewhere, and here’s a reason to pour yourself a stiff cocktail and celebrate if you’re a long-suffering Buccaneers fan. First, Tampa Bay should be a top-seven team in the NFC on its roster already. The NFC South has three potential playoff teams in the Buccaneers, the Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints, but two or maybe even three teams are getting in.
Second, for as much as we praise the Buccaneers offense, it will be the defense that will get them to the postseason. To put it simply, Todd Bowles is too good to be an NFL defensive coordinator for very long. He’s in a terrific spot to not be coaching the Jet-y New York Jets anymore. He’s very likely to succeed his mentor Bruce Arians as the next Buccaneers head coach when Arians retires.
Third, Arians is Mr. “No Risk It, No Biscuit.” It is a Tompa Bay Gronkaneers party down in the Florida Gulf Coast. He wants to win a Super Bowl as a head coach, so, so badly. Arians left the FOX booth after a season to take over a Buccaneers’ situation that wasn’t as dire as we thought. And guess who played wide receiver for him for two years in the early 2010s with the Pittsburgh Steelers?
Brown, baby! After an embarrassing season for himself personally and professionally, Brown looks ready to get back to it on the NFL gridiron. Given his self-sabotaging ways of 2019, Brown will sign for pennies on the dollar to be a glorified No. 3 wide receiver in Tampa alongside Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Brown played for years along other talented wideouts in Pittsburgh. It’s no big thing.
If Arians and Brady want to win a Super Bowl in 2020, they have to bring Brown into the building. Brady plans to play three more years before he hangs up the spikes. Maybe he and Arians ride off into the sunset together? Brown is back in his native Florida these days. If he joins the team, Tampa Bay can be the first team to ever play a Super Bowl in its home stadium. Fire the cannons!
Brown to the Buccaneers means they are the favorites to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LV.