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According to Peter King of NBC Sports, there one’s NFL team that could surprise everybody and sign New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
As Brady enters free agency for the first time, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are considered a “sleeping giant” for the veteran quarterback’s services, says King.
In fact, King says that if Brady leaves New England, the Buccaneers make more sense as his landing spot than any other NFL team — with the exception of the Los Angeles Chargers.
“Hey, look, everybody can say, ‘No, not that team. No, not this team.’ But, we’re talking about Tom Brady and we’re talking about a guy who obviously once he comes to your team does so much for it, including sells tickets like no other person in this free agent market is going to be. So, I guess I look at it and say when I think of Tampa Bay and Tom Brady, it makes as much sense to me as any of these other teams out here with the possible exception of the Chargers.”
Why Brady Makes Sense For The Bucs
King explains why the move to the Bucs would make sense for a 42-year-old quarterback from a personnel standpoint, citing that the Bucs have a good offensive line along with talented players at the skill positions.
“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.
Jameis Winston Could Be On His Way Out
If you’re wondering how this could happen considering that Jameis Winston is supposed to be their starting quarterback, that would be because there is now uncertainty. Prior to the Bucs’ Week 16 game against the Houston Texans, it had been reported that Tampa Bay would re-sign Winston for next season.
However, he had an absolutely dreadful end to the 2019 season. Winston not only led the Bucs to two consecutive losses, his turnover woes somehow got worse. Over the last two weeks of the season, Winston threw six interceptions to end the season with a total of 30.
In other words, he had over 5,000 yards passing and 33 touchdowns — both excellent numbers. However, his 30 interceptions were the most since Vinny Testaverde threw 35 during the 1988 season. In fact, they were the seventh-most in NFL history.
It also didn’t help that his own head coach, Bruce Arians, gave an ominous quote regarding Winston’s future with the franchise.
“With another quarterback? Oh yeah. If we can win with this one, we can definitely win with another one, too,” Arians said, per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times.
King details how the Bucs may be ready to move on from their top draft pick.
“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.
It had also been reported the previous day that teams such as the New York Jets, Washington Redskins and New York Giants were interested in Brady.
Although the Bucs were a 7-9 team, if you plug in a quarterback who can win and manage a game, they immediately become a playoff team. Factor in that the warm weather in Florida may be beneficial for Brady and his aging arm, and this could be a match in heaven.
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