Columnist Writes Tom Brady Needs To Make Ironclad Demands Of Bucs Or Walk This Offseason
December 2nd, 2022
Tom Brady, the Bucs and 2023.
Nobody really knows if Tom Brady is done with football at the completion of the Bucs’ season. Allegedly the main obstacle preventing Brady from playing another year was his ex-wife, the model Gisele Bündchen.
Since Brady and Bündchen are divorced, in theory, no roadblocks are preventing Brady from continuing his unparalleled NFL career.
So what about the Bucs?
Jeff Howe of The Athletic believes Brady needs to have a sitdown with (Team Glazer? Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht?) a list of demands, and if the shot-callers at One Buc Palace don’t meet them, then Brady should bolt for another team.
If Brady wants to return for a 24th season as a 46-year-old, he shouldn’t rule out the idea of joining a third team. The Buccaneers have taken a major step back on offense this season without Bruce Arians at head coach or much of a ground game, so Brady should seek assurances from the decision-makers of an improved schematic plan and upgrades on the offensive line.
Well, the front line will be upgraded when Ryan Jensen returns. So there is a trump card that doesn’t need to be used.
But yeah, Joe agrees that Brady should have a sitdown with Team Glazer/Licht and demand changes on the style of offense. And the Bucs should heed Brady’s demands.
Enough talent is returning next year for the Bucs to make a run. Mike Evans comes back. So does Chris Godwin. Playoff Lenny is still under contract.
If Brady wants to handpick his own coordinator, let him. Joe thinks a helluva good choice would be to rescue Bill O’Brien from Nick Saban’s prison in Tuscaloosa and let him run the offense.
Joe knows O’Brien is well thought of at One Buc Palace and obviously he and Brady bad great success in New England. The only year O’Brien ran the Belicheats offense New England was second in total yards, third in points per game and fourth in touchdown passes. They were stomped out of the Super Bowl by the Giants.
Another reasonable Brady demand is for Todd Bowles to sign a promissory note detailing “Thou shalt not take the ball out of Tom Brady’s hands in the final two minutes of a half and thou shalt allow thy quarterback to call timeouts as he sees fit.”
Joe doesn’t think those are unreasonable demands.
December 2nd, 2022 at 4:56 am
Brady won’t play for this inept coaching staff again. This team is a shipwreck between the HC, the OC, and the not so special teams coaches. On top of that there’s the salary cap situation. Too many holes in the roster. He’s as good as gone.
December 2nd, 2022 at 5:08 am
Why should he have to make demands? It would seem to me they should have enough sense to see what is going g on, and if they can’t, it’s adios. Think it’s bad now just wait
December 2nd, 2022 at 6:09 am
The sit down needs to happen now, not after this season is wasted.
December 2nd, 2022 at 6:13 am
Bowles tries to win by preventing the other team from scoring. That’s why he was a DC all these years. Somebody needs to tell him you have to score also if you want to actually win games.
December 2nd, 2022 at 6:34 am
Agree, O’brien would be a huge improvement.
December 2nd, 2022 at 6:48 am
Start Trask now. No reason not too.
December 2nd, 2022 at 6:49 am
please bring sean payton
December 2nd, 2022 at 6:51 am
“One Buc Palace meet Brady’s demands, then he should bolt for another team.“
Can’t
This would make more sense. Unless he’s saying Brady purposely be a d!ck.
December 2nd, 2022 at 6:53 am
One Buc Palace *(can’t) meet Brady’s demands, then he should bolt for another team.
December 2nd, 2022 at 6:55 am
Seems to me that TB pretty much had gotten what he wants from the Glazers and Jason Licht. Joe keeps defending TB acting as though he has no responsibility for the offense’s poor performance. TB and BL are the TWO guys that run this offense. Yet Joe only throws mud at BL. How about asking TB about his decision making, audibles, over throws, passes in the dirt. He builds his stats with dump off passes and those horrible WR screens. Yeah, he still makes incredible throws. But the consistency isn’t there this season. Call it out, Joe.
December 2nd, 2022 at 6:58 am
The whole problem is this coaching staff has no leaders all followers
December 2nd, 2022 at 7:05 am
I don’t see that happening. Brady either plays for another team or climbs into the announcing booth. I don’t see him making a list of demands to improve the team, at least beyond recommendations that they trade or sign a couple of friends like Gronk or AB. Decisions on firing someone above his pay grade? That doesn’t sound like Brady.
And at this point Brady knows he’ll be blamed if Bowles or Leftwich are fired. He’s already faced that PR nightmare after Arians retired.
December 2nd, 2022 at 7:08 am
Last but not least ownership and the GM sat on their thumbs despite concerns regarding personnel.
December 2nd, 2022 at 7:12 am
This guy is delusional. He’s playing in Miami with Sean Peyton His kids will be there and he just bought a house there. This year will kill us for years to come. No one will want to come here because we will be forever known as the organization that lost with the greatest QB of all time. We are in Schiano/Lovie era all over again. It’s incomprehensible what has happened.
December 2nd, 2022 at 7:16 am
This is a perfect example of what terrible coaching can do to a very talented team.
December 2nd, 2022 at 7:22 am
Brady’s gone next year- either retired or joining the 49ersor Tennessee. Why would he entrust the last year or two of his career to a franchise that is not going to fire these coaches? How many times this year have we heard Leftwich and Bowles spew cliches and platitudes about making changes, going back to the film room, blah, blah? It hasn’t (and won’t) happen. They are essentially liars. Brady has been around long enough to recognized gross incompetence.
December 2nd, 2022 at 7:38 am
Is Bowles in concussion protocol after the Browns game? O’Brien would be a great HC, he is not coming back as a OC. Grab Floras as his DC or Gerard Mayo. O’Brien could develope your next QB whereas it is obvious Bowles or Leftnut cannot.
Clueless Robert and FrontFour, the team is leading in the NFC South and your suggestion is to start Trask. That is the same loser mentality Bucs HC has, play to lose. The intelligence of Joe’s audience is bordering the little yellow bus level.
December 2nd, 2022 at 7:39 am
OMG, for the 10th time, he’s NOT going to the fins–they have one of the top QB’s in the NFL under a rookie contract. He’s NOT going to SF–they mortgaged their immediate future for Trey Lance. There really isn’t a team out there like the Bucs were on 2020 who has everything but a decent QB. As for broadcasting, he’s never done a single thing since signing the contract (which includes interacting with his future partner) He calls it quits or comes back
December 2nd, 2022 at 7:50 am
LightHouse needs to take the heat for this mess
He chose this coaching staff, and BA shoved it down his throat.
We need to stop looking backwards around here, that SB run is over and we probably start Trask next year
Hopefully with a new PROVEN HC
December 2nd, 2022 at 7:58 am
At seasons end it should be the Glazers first duty to have a sit down with Tom Brady. Who better to give advice to the Glazers about what’s right, and wrong with the organization, and I’d sure want to know how Tom thinks things can be fixed. Whether he wants to keep playing, or not the Glazers would be fools not to take his advice on how to move forward. If I’m the Glazers I wouldn’t trust Arains he’s the one who left me with Bowles. I’m sure Arains is going to lobby for Bowles to get more time. Yes listen to Brady.
December 2nd, 2022 at 8:03 am
Nobody on this team has had more input on offense than Brady. People (myself included) have been raging about Lefty’s ineffectiveness as an OC for more than this season, especially his inability to adjust, and finally Joe is rounding the corner on this fact. It begs the question… when will you recognize Brady’s roll in all of this. Stop living on history and stats ( really, tight window throws). Men age; their skills diminish. Also, Tom has already proven he is not the best judge of character (see AB). It takes more than stats for a winning formula (buying championships only seems to work regularly in the NBA), character counts. I personally think it would be a poor idea for a guy with one foot out the door, on the cusp of retirement, with questionable character judgement, calling the shots to rebuild this mess.
December 2nd, 2022 at 8:11 am
The bucs has given Brady every thing he asked for since he been here . They gave him more power than the coaches and GM . They let him pick his own players he wanted in free agents and they changed the play book for him and put the head coach up stairs . How much more power do you give a player the next step is to make him the owner of the team. Remember what Brady wants Brady gets he’s the GM remember. To my real bucs fans we got to be a better fan base than this we have to have more pride for the team and believe we can win with or without Brady . This is why no other fan base or media respect us because we have no pride and that’s why y’all begging and hoping Brady comes back. Even the Jets fan base has more pride than us we have to be a better fan base than this.
December 2nd, 2022 at 8:14 am
If this mess continues against the Stanks he may do the AB Shuffle out of Ray Jay.
December 2nd, 2022 at 8:16 am
He has not already?
December 2nd, 2022 at 8:37 am
Oneilsuckyall, you are correct Brady is a poor judge of character. He came to Tamps and played for BA the main cause of this entire mess. Ya, I am sure it was Brady’s fault BA acted like a child and pushed an obvious unstable player to the brink of insanity. Very professional. I am sure he said, hey let’s not sign Suh the Bucs best dlineman in 2021. His best move was, hey Gronks not coming back, Brate will be fine and ya know who could replace Gronk? Cade Otton and don’t worry about Jensen my pro bowl center we must have someone on the bench to replace him even if he never played to position. Best of all let’s replace a risk it no biscuit offensive minded HC with the total opposite conservative 2 time loser FC toilet Bowels. Hey at least BA looked good and ALL the boxes were checked. BA the invisible man!!!!
December 2nd, 2022 at 8:38 am
Re: My two censored attempts to provide feedback on this website today.
Freedom of speech seems to not apply here.
It sure would be nice if some explanation as to “why” was provided.
December 2nd, 2022 at 8:45 am
Stick a fork in him, this is Brady’s final year. The demands should be issued immediately to fire Lefty, and allow Brady to be his own OC. That’d be a mic drop if he flipped the script and engineered his own offense to a SB.
December 2nd, 2022 at 9:00 am
Bowles needs to go. He’s blaming the players for last week’s lost to The Browns. That’s all on Bowles and his fear of losing. In a one possession game you still have to score. Can’t keep punting and calling weak plays and expect the defense to not give up any points. Good man bad head coach .
December 2nd, 2022 at 9:06 am
That Dolphins’ offense is in high gear – anyone from McDaniel’s coaching tree –
Wes Welker if he’s ready
December 2nd, 2022 at 9:10 am
Let him walk! He can’t hit the long ball anymore, time for us to utilize the great talent we have and another QB
December 2nd, 2022 at 9:12 am
NEfan – are you here cause patriots gonna miss playoffs? You miss your Tommy boy cleaning up dribble on your chin? Pathetic
December 2nd, 2022 at 9:30 am
Let Brady go and let ALL the talent achieve. What talent? Old slow injured receivers? The JV oline and over paid tackle that specializes in killing scoring drives, Overrated dline, wild man LB that gets bored in the 4th qtr, sorry arse ST’s and inept coaching staff? I agree cut him loose and start Trask, let him get killed.
December 2nd, 2022 at 9:38 am
Gabbert is our backup not trask. We have a top 5 defense, our o line has many injuries and is blocking for a QB that doesn’t move. Just shows you are clearly not watching the Bucs and Brady’s consistent 3 and outs every game and just blame the rest of team. NE is in a far worse spot then the Bucs when Brady walks- hopefully it’s after this year
December 2nd, 2022 at 9:42 am
O’Brien has been my pick for some time now, after I heard he was potentially looking to return to NFL.
One must give the GOAT discretionary TO’s and Master Control of the Offense when in 2-4 minute modes, especially when game can be tied. It’s just common sense!
December 2nd, 2022 at 9:49 am
Agree, agree ….. How did we get to such a spot? Incredible! It’s almost like there’s coaches set out to destroy what was working. It’s as if they were silently saying ” we will show everyone how smart we”. Well, we all know now that they are dumb asses who simply lack “head man in charge” skills…
December 2nd, 2022 at 10:09 am
Does toilet bowels and leftnut know what a two minute drill is?
Bucky, yes the Pat’s are struggling playing in the BEST division in the NFL, 3 teams in line for playoffs. They also have a better record than the Bucs. At least they have an excuse, they don’t have a OC and ZERO HOF receivers. Bucs have a SO CALL winning SB OC that has NO idea how to manage an offense. Not huge Belichick fan ever since the Philly SB loss but be grateful the Bucs don’t play the Pat’s it wouldn’t be pretty for the Bucs. Belichick would have a field day with BL. Oh by the way Pat’s kicked the crap out of the Browns.
December 2nd, 2022 at 10:35 am
Brian Flores or Eric Bienemy.
December 2nd, 2022 at 10:44 am
Frank Reich or O’Brien
December 2nd, 2022 at 10:48 am
Brady is already lost to us. Even as great as he is, he cannot override an incompetent coach. Two of them guarantee he will walk, maybe completely away from football.
The teams that want him are even more dysfunctional than the Bucs.
After he is gone Trask will finish the next season. Even if Gabbert can hold on, he will get hurt quickly and Trask will take over and stay the starter. Maybe he will even do good things.
December 2nd, 2022 at 11:15 am
The Bucs are in legit cap hell next year, and while they can do a ton of changes that would allow Brady to return, it would mean losing a number of starters. The Bucs have done basically every cap trick in the book to keep the team together this long and that really limits their options.
Anywho, the likelihood of Brady coming back is very very very low unless the Bucs fired these idiots running the team now or Arians unretired.
Instead, next year, I assume the Bucs will keep Bowles and Leftwich and tank with Trask as they use the year to clean up the cap and play for the #1 overall pick in 2024.
I really don’t know why Brady would come back, unless maybe he’s got some harem from Mons or something and is enjoying the single life. Afterall Tampa does have the highest number of strippers per person in the US.
December 2nd, 2022 at 1:51 pm
If the buc want to win and make run to the super bowl they must remove Bowle-Leftwich immediately,this team is been the same every week. Poor coaching.
December 2nd, 2022 at 2:13 pm
Look, Brady has already won us our SB for the decade. He will not win us another one folks whether he stays or leaves. Its time to get us a mobile QB and follow the trend. We need somebody who is agile enough to pick up 10 yrds when things bog down. Brady cannot run 5 yrds. Just watch the open field when we play the Saints. They know he ain’t runnin nowhere. Lets move forward next yr with a new QB. We have milked Brady for everything he had left. Its over.
December 2nd, 2022 at 2:29 pm
Brady is done in Tampa…
December 2nd, 2022 at 2:48 pm
yes, and if Brady leaves then the dooosshess like NEFAN will go back to boston.com and f.off.
December 2nd, 2022 at 3:06 pm
Jeff Howe is not a Brady guy. Brady’s last yr in new england there was effort to say Brady sucks. Brady can no longer make players better. Brady is the reason patriots are losing. Mike Lombardi a Belichick confidant was leading the way. All the beat writers were all on board saying Brady lost a step. They wanted Brady to retire. Everyone laughed when Brady last pass for patriots was int. Beat writers said a sad ending. Everyone knew Brady wanted a 2 yr fully guranteed deal. JEFF HOWE THIS SAME JEFF HOWE pushed the lie the narrative patriots offered same contract as Bucs. Which was a lie but JEFF HOWE was anti Brady pro Belichick, So some perspective when reading this article he is no Brady fan boy
December 2nd, 2022 at 4:41 pm
maca, that’s not nice, is that what your mama taught you?
December 2nd, 2022 at 4:43 pm
bucsbrady@ yes his last pass was a puck 6 to Logan Ryan with 19 seconds on the clock inside the Patriots 15yd line,.that fame was over.
December 2nd, 2022 at 5:52 pm
@NEfan: “Ya, I am sure it was Brady’s fault BA acted like a child and pushed an obvious unstable player to the brink of insanity.”
Yet, AB is all over Brady on Twitter and not a peep about Bruce. Dude, get you head out of Brady’s a$$, cuz your takes are starting to smell like….
Btw, didn’t you say you were going away?
December 2nd, 2022 at 10:04 pm
Chiapet I am here for your entertainment. Of course AB is going to go after the most popular player on the team instead of an old senile coach, who would want to read that except you. Yes, absolutely BA lit the fuse.
December 2nd, 2022 at 10:33 pm
If Brady plays another season it won’t be for Todd Bowles. When asked today about the clock management and lack of timeout being called in crunch time, Brady thought about it for a second and then said he was on to the Saints game and didn’t want to talk about it. It sure looked like Brady has something he wanted to say but held his tongue.
December 3rd, 2022 at 2:20 am
Oh please, as if you can be the starting QB of a struggling offense and it’s all so one else’s fault to the degree that you are going to make demands or threaten to leave…. How bout the Glazers demand he is all in mentally and does not take a two week vacation in training camp while teammates practice? How bout they demand he travels with his team and not fly solo to his former owners sham wedding? How bout he practice too if his teammates have to practice on Thanksgiving? All year he has had one foot in and one foot out and it seems half his heart in. Maybe he should just leave if he doesn’t want to be here and let them use that cap space to sign a QB who does.
December 3rd, 2022 at 2:44 am
he needs to demand they give sean payton whatever he wants TODAY to coach tampa or leave for vegas i guess since it seems like the 9ers have been too dumb to not say yes and miami thinks they have their answer in tua
December 4th, 2022 at 6:49 pm
Wouldn’t be surprised to see TB12🐐 head back to NE and finish there to help bring Mac along better!! JMO