Getty The Buccaneers are trying to re-sign Antonio Brown.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had success retaining their own free agents but wide receiver Antonio Brown remains unsigned. ESPN’s Jenna Laine reported the Bucs are trying to get new deals done with Brown, Leonard Fournette and other key players.
“The Bucs are actively having conversations with Ndamukong Suh and representatives for Leonard Fournette, Ryan Succop and Antonio Brown, per sources,” Laine tweeted on March 16. “They aren’t finished.”
The Athletic’s Greg Auman added there is mutual interest between Brown and the Bucs on getting a deal done. It remains to be seen what Brown’s market is in free agency given the ongoing legal investigation.
“I think Antonio Brown wants to return to Tampa, and I think they’d like to have him back,” Auman noted on Twitter. “Not sure what they can offer him, and whether that leads him to look elsewhere. AB did and said all the right things in the last six months.”
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A.B. Indicated He Wants to Re-Sign with the Buccaneers
After the Super Bowl, Brown indicated his preference would be to re-sign with the Bucs this offseason. We will see if the two parties can work out a deal given the team has already spent a lot of money re-signing other key players.
“Man I’d love to, I look forward to going through the process, this is a great spot for me and I would love to come back and give it another shot at a two-peat,” Brown noted, per CBS Sports. “I would love to be back here next year. It would mean everything to be back. I’m just excited and super grateful.”
NBC Sports’ Peter King Predicted Brown Will Play in Tampa in 2021
NBC Sports’ Peter King reported in February that Brown wants to play for the Buccaneers next season. We also know that Tom Brady has advocated for the receiver throughout the season, and the quarterback just signed a contract extension to help create more cap space this offseason for signings like this.
“Brown wants to return to Tampa Bay,” King noted. “Tom Brady wants Brown to return to Tampa Bay. Bruce Arians wants Brown to return to Tampa Bay, and he did something last week to help move that along. In 2020, a coaching staff assistant, Thaddeus Lewis, impressed the Bucs so much that when the Lions hired Antwaan Randle-El from the Bucs as receivers coach, Arians told Greg Auman of The Athletic that Lewis would take Randel-El’s spot as assistant receivers coach. There’s a hidden benefit to that: Lewis was a childhood friend of Brown’s in Miami. So to have Lewis be one of his coaches in Tampa can’t hurt the Bucs’ cause to bring back Brown at the right price—assuming Brown doesn’t have legal entanglements from his past assault-charge behavior.”
The Bucs have already re-signed Shaq Barrett, Lavonte David, Rob Gronkowski and Chris Godwin. Brown along with Fournette remain the biggest to-do items for Tampa Bay in an already-busy offseason.
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