Getty Tom Brady has another skill player to work with after day two of the NFL Draft.
There has been no shortage of rumors involving Tom Brady this offseason, but the NFL legend made it clear he plans to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2022. There are still those that wish we could have seen a Brady trade to the Dolphins. Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox outlined seven offseason dream moves that he wishes took place, and Brady moving to Miami was one of the top scenarios on the list given the “chaos” it would have created.
“There’s one word to describe why this move would have been entertaining: Chaos,” Knox wrote on May 12, 2022. “Football fans everywhere would have lost their minds over Brady coming back to both share a stake in the Dolphins and quarterback them on the field. Those of us who write about football for a living would have had a massive well of content all season long. Brady would be chasing a Super Bowl with a third team, he’d get to play the New England Patriots twice a year and we’d have all sorts of questions to tackle surrounding Miami.
“Would the Dolphins have acquired Payton? Would they still have traded for wideout Tyreek Hill? What would the future hold for 2020 first-round pick Tua Tagovailoa? It would have been wild.”
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What Would a Brady Trade Have Looked Like for the Bucs-Dolphins?
Brady still has one more year remaining on his contract with the Buccaneers and the Dolphins would have had to make a trade with Tampa Bay to acquire the star quarterback. Prior to his retirement, Bruce Arians insisted that the Buccaneers would not consider trading Brady if he wanted to play for a different team, joking that the asking price would start with five first-round picks.
Yet, NBC Sports’ Chris Simms reported that the Bucs were not going to hold Brady “hostage” and had discussed about the framework for a potential deal where Miami would have sent a second-round draft selection to Tampa. Simms noted that the deal fell apart after the Brian Flores lawsuit was filed. The former Bucs quarterback also revealed that Sean Payton was set to join Brady in Miami.
“I was led to believe that it [had] already been talked about,” Simms detailed during an April 22 interview on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.” “They were going to trade a second-round pick to Tampa Bay to get Brady. They weren’t going to hold him hostage.
“Sean Payton and the Saints, that was going to be a first-round pick to get that deal done. And yes, the way I was told, Sean Payton head coach, Brady, Bruce Beal, part owner. Gonna give him a little time, ‘oh yeah, I retired, but oh wait, I changed my mind. This Dolphins thing’s so good.’ And then come back and play with the Dolphins. That was what the plan was. That’s where the stars were trying to be aligned by Brady and Sean Payton and, of course, it got upset by that [Flores lawsuit].”
Brady: ‘I Just Felt Like There Was Still a Place for Me on the Field’
Only the Buccaneers, Dolphins and Brady know just how close a potential trade came, or if the rumors are simply offseason chatter. The one thing that is clear is this offseason felt very different from 2021 when Brady quietly extended his contract with the Buccaneers. Brady would technically be free to sign with the Dolphins or another team when he becomes a free agent in 2023.
Given the news of Brady’s massive deal with Fox, all signs point to the quarterback playing one more season in Tampa before beginning his new career in the broadcast booth. During an April 18 interview with ESPN’s Tom VanHaaren, Brady made his first public comments about why he had a change of heart about his short-lived retirement.
“I knew my body, physically, could still do what it could do and obviously I have a love for the game, I think I’ll always have a love for the game,” Brady explained. “I do think physically I’ll be able to do it. I just felt like there was still a place for me on the field.”