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Much is changing in Tom Brady’s life. The quarterback will play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and week 1 will mark the first time he’s played for a team other than the New England Patriots.
Another big change is his rankings in the NFL Top 100. The quarterback is listed as No. 14 on the NFL Network’s feature, which is the lowest he’s been since the show debuted back in 2011. Brady came in at No. 6 last year. He was the No. 1 overall in both 2017 and 2018.
The NFL collected ballots from 970 players and interviews 132 players in order to determine their rankings.
Brady Expected to Reach New Heights?
Brady, who will be 43 in August, has only thrown 50 touchdowns on one occasion: the 2007 campaign where the Patriots went 16-0. In addition to throwing for 50 touchdowns, he had 4,806 yards to go along with a 68.9 completion percentage.
That 2007 season, where he won the MVP, was the only time in his career where he tossed more than 40 TDs.
However, NFL analyst Maurice Jones-Drew envisions Brady setting career-highs in touchdown passes.
“You know what, I’m gonna go out on a limb: He’s gonna thrash 2007,” Jones-Drew said, referring to Brady’s best season of his career (on a recent episode of NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football). “I think he’s gonna throw 55 touchdowns, 4,500 yards passing, close to 5,000. The Bucs are gonna be one of the toughest teams to stop, and that’s because the defense causes turnovers and will get him more opportunities.”
Only Peyton Manning has thrown as many touchdown passes in a season. He did so at age 37 for the Broncos back in 2013.
Brady Ahead of the Competition?
Brady continued to work out with his new Buccaneers teammates earlier in the offseason despite the warning of the NFLPA for to stop.
“Please be advised that it is our consensus medical opinion that in light of the increase in COVID-19 cases in certain states that no players should be engaged in practicing together in private workouts,” Dr. Thom Mayer, the NFLPA medical director, said in an email to all players. “Our goal is to have all players and your families as healthy as possible in the coming months.
Florida was (and still is) seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases. At the time, Brady led workouts with both offensive and defensive players.
Prior to that, Brady was in the news for breaking Florida’s stay-at-home order on at least two occasions, including one where he accidentally broke into some one’s home, believing that it was offensive coordinator’s Byron Leftwich’s house.
Brady wasn’t arrested for breaking and entering, though it’s possible the league could take some sort of disciplinary action for the incident, as he was not supposed to be meeting with members of his new team.
“Totally illegal,” a connected source told Mike Florio of NBC Sports. “They should be fined. Plus, I bet those duffel bags had footballs in them.”
Breaking offseason protocol has resulted in a fine previously, so it seems like a suspension is not in the cards.
Brady was also in the news for being in a public park earlier this offseason. That park was closed because of COVID-19 and the QB was ushered out of it. In this case, Tampa Bay’s Mayor apologized to Brady for enforcing the law.
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