Getty Tom Brady had an open locker to sign things from players in his final season.
Tom Brady left his mark with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and he left an extra locker open along the way.
Former Bucs tight end Kyle Rudolph recently shared the story of how Brady, the Bucs’ former quarterback, had a locker open next to his, which served as a landing spot for him to sign things as requested by players. Brady played with Rudolph during the 2022 season before both retired this year.
“But my experience with Tom was incredible. First, the way he treated people,” Rudolph told NBC Sports’ Peter King. “The way he treated the Glazer family [Bucs owners] is exactly the way he treated the janitor at 6:30 at night when he and maybe one or two other guys were the last players in the building.”
“Second, the way he treated his teammates. Tom had an empty locker next to him. I would look over there and every day, guys would put helmets, jerseys, pictures, footballs, all the stuff they wanted Tom to sign for them. There’d be notes on the stuff, a post-it note on a football—’Sign this for Jimmy, it’s his birthday.’ At the end of the day, almost every day, he’d sit there and sign everything,” Rudolph continued.
Rudolph joined the Bucs in 2022 at the encouragement of Brady after former Bucs tight end Rob Gronkowski‘s retirement. Things didn’t turn out as planned as the Bucs went 8-9 and got walloped by the Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card round.
Kyle Rudolph on Tom Brady: ‘He Never Carried It Into the Building’
For Rudolph, he seldom played and only tallied three receptions for 28 yards and a touchdown. Brady didn’t look like himself in his first losing season as his personal news made national headlines.
“The most amazing thing to me was, with all the negativity swirling around his life outside of football, he never carried it into the building,” Rudolph told King. “Always positive. I didn’t think it’d be possible when I walked into the team to be more impressed with Tom. But I was.”
Rudolph and Brady share an additional thing in common besides their careers ending with the Bucs as both have broadcasting careers ahead. Brady will start with FOX in 2024, but Rudolph started this year with the Big Ten Network.
Peter King Has Harsh Take on Baker Mayfield
New Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield led his team to an achievement that Brady didn’t do in his final season — win a road game where the Bucs score 20 or more points. King, who voiced his thoughts on the Bucs’ 20-17 win over the Minnesota Vikings, took a veiled shot at Mayfield in his column.
“I think if I’m Baker Mayfield this morning, I’m feeling damn good about winning a road game against a 2022 playoff team when everyone gave up on me,” King wrote.
That “everyone” wasn’t specified by King, but two NFL teams gave up on Mayfield in 2022 and another let him walk in free agency. A former No. 1 pick, Mayfield got traded by the Cleveland Browns, cut by the Carolina Panthers, and was allowed to leave the Los Angeles Rams in less than a year.