TB12 To Tampa
Source: Yahoo
I remember writing an article about how Tom Brady would be a New England Patriot for life. Well, it turns out I was wrong. The six-time Super Bowl champion is soon to a sign contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He made the decision on Tuesday that Tampa Bay will be the team he will play for in the 2020 NFL regular season.
This NFL Free agency period has been so good. Tom Brady is one of the many popular NFL athletes that have switched teams either due to Free Agency or because of a trade. Other NFL players such as DeAndre Hopkins (Houston-Arizona), Darius Slay (Detroit-Philadelphia), Stefon Diggs (Minnesota-Buffalo), Calais Campbell (Jacksonville-Baltimore), Philip Rivers (Los Angeles Chargers- Indianapolis), Josh Norman (Washington-Buffalo) and Desmond Trufant (Atlanta-Detroit) have found new homes in the month of March. There might even be more moves to come, but Tom Brady's move to Tampa Bay is and probably will be the biggest move of the offseason.
I never would have thought I would live in a lifetime that all the restaurants/malls would be closed, all sporting events would be postponed because of Covid-19. I also never imagined living in a time in which Tom Brady would play on another NFL team. 2020 will be Tom Brady's 21st season in the NFL and he'll be wearing orange, red and gray rather than blue and red. First of all, for Tampa Bay, their economy is going to go up because of the idea that more people in Tampa Bay will want to watch the Buccaneers play which will result in more ticket sales going up and more restaurants/bars making money so people can find a place to watch Buccaneers football games.
Tampa Bay finished 7-9 in 2019 as in six of their nine losses were only one possession losses. Jameis Winston, as the Buccaneers starting quarterback, threw 30 interceptions in 2019 and they still managed to have a 7-9 record. Imagine with Brady on the team, as long as he doesn't turn the football over 30 times, Tampa Bay can be a dangerous team in the NFC South. The Buccaneers defense didn't seem bad last season and as long as they continue to play decent, this Bucs team can think about playoffs.
I like Bruce Arians. Why do I like Bruce Arians? I like him because he was the offensive coordinator and wide receivers' coach of the Steelers (2004-11) and turned that offense to one of the best offenses in the league when he was there. He knows how to play the game of football and will coach the Buccaneers for the second straight year in 2020. Now, you give Bruce one of the best quarterbacks ever in Brady and he'll make sure that they can win games. Of all the NFL teams that Bruce has ever coached, he has never had the opportunity to coach a superstar player until now in Brady. TB12 is going to have some weapons to throw the football to in Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and O.J. Howard. Honestly, I feel that this season, Brady will spread the football around a lot that Evans might not record the superstar numbers that he has posted when Winston was the starting quarterback for the Buccaneers.
Oh, wait. Where is Jameis Winston going to go? Honestly, even though he led the NFL in passing yards with 5,109 yards in the regular season last year, I don't think Bucs fans care whatsoever that Winston will not be Tampa Bay's starting quarterback anymore. He will probably find a new team in the offseason.
I wonder about Tom Brady's legacy. I am not in his shoes so I have no right to judge him on his decision, but I would have had more respect for him if he just finished his career in New England. He has won more Super Bowls than any other player and he is going to decide to play for another team? Fine, I guess. If I'm a Patriots fan, my heart would be broken. The Patriots will need to find another quarterback, but whoever they get will not be as legendary as Tom Brady.
The only thing that I like about Brady going to Tampa Bay is that I know that in 2020 that we will see Brady go at it with Drew Brees at least two times since Tampa Bay and New Orleans are in the same division. Heck, we'll see Teddy Bridgewater (QB, Carolina) and Matt Ryan (QB, Atlanta) face off with Brady twice in 2020 as well.
Tampa Bay will also play against Kansas City and Green Bay in 2020 which means Brady will go against Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers. Don't be surprised if Tampa Bay is on National Television at least six times in 2020 because the of the fact that Brady is on their team now,
Hopefully, Covid-19 doesn't affect the 2020 NFL Regular season because there are a lot of good NFL games that will be played. I'm trying to watch as many of those games as possible especially with star players like Brady playing on a different team.
Brentaro Yamane: bythebossandgoat@gmail.com and Twitter @BYHilton13