Tom Brady No. 9
February 1st, 2023
Still valuable.
The free agency dinner bell rings next month. Yes, next month! Time flies, man.
So with the Super Bowl a week from Sunday, it’s not too early to start monitoring free agency. Thus, Matt Bowen of BSPN ranked his Top-50 free agents.
At No. 9 is a familiar face. That would be quarterback Tom Brady. Bowen, an X’s and O’s guy who works with Greg Cosell of NFL Films on “NFL Matchup,” believes Brady can still be a much better quarterback at age 46 than he was last year with the Bucs.
Improve the weapons around Brady and perhaps use what he excels at, and Brady can still be dangerous, Bowen wrote.
Age and future plans come into play when assessing Brady’s value on the market. If he wants to play, he will need a strong run game foundation and much more team speed than he had in Tampa this season. Even in his age-45 season, though, Brady’s 4,694 passing yards ranked third behind Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert. He is still a master of pre- and post-snap field vision, with refined pocket movement and an ultra-quick release.
Yes, the Bucs need speed. So why let Scotty Miller walk, you ask? When is the last time he made a big play in the passing game since he caught that bomb from Brady in the NFC Championship game? Joe thinks that may be the third-biggest play in Bucs history. Seriously.
Since, Miller has been invisible. If you want to argue that failed former Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich didn’t know how to use him, Joe will listen. It seems more than that.
Joe will once again bang the drum for a No. 3 receiver. No, Joe is not banking on Russell Gage. Why would Joe bank on Gage? No matter how you spin it, he woefully underachieved his $10 million-a-year salary.
A running game would be nice. Something tells Joe whoever the Bucs hire as offensive coordinator will have a clue to how to build a running game better than Leftwich.
February 1st, 2023 at 4:52 am
Todd Blowes will make sure everything is done his way. And the failure will be even more profound than in 2022.
February 1st, 2023 at 6:28 am
Gage ought get a second chance, don’t believe he had an injury history
February 1st, 2023 at 6:38 am
No word on Monken interview. Assuming it is a no go highlights no one of quality wants to come to the Bowles, er Bucs. That should scream to the administration to jettison Bowles and his clown show and hire a powerful staff that can make a difference. If not, it will be an embarrassing number of seasons.
February 1st, 2023 at 6:41 am
If Gage isn’t at every single OTA this off-season cut him. He was the single most dissapointing free agent we signed.
February 1st, 2023 at 6:41 am
Gage was injured most of the year but performed well when he played…..caught TD passes and took some big hits……
Scotty was practically worthless……as was Julio.
I have some hope for Thompkins.
February 1st, 2023 at 6:50 am
Hopefully we’ll know what Brady’s plans are before next month. My guess is if he’s going to retire he’ll wait till after the S.B. to announce. If we don’t hear from him like a week after that game, than he’s probably looking to play, but not with us. He ain’t coming back to the Bucs, that’s over.
February 1st, 2023 at 6:58 am
i lhink you need the Gronk backif hev will come Brady maybe older and so is Gronk but put then together and they are unbeatable
February 1st, 2023 at 7:00 am
Much respect to Brady for what he did for this franchise…
That being said, I wouldn’t mind if we just moved on. I’m over the whole fiasco every off-season that comes with us waiting in limbo for him to decide what he wants to do. And as great as he is I believe he just puts to much pressure on the offensive line to be perfect every single snap. In a league where Defensive linemen and LB’s are now running sub 4.5 40’s his lack of mobility and his lack of ability to improvise when the play breaks down is glaring…
He’ll always be the GO∆T in book, but all good things must come to an end. Imo, we’ve done little to prepare for life after Brady. And at the moment I have very little confidence in Todd Bowles to figure it out. Good QB’s can help you win a few games, but “Good Teams” wins SB’s….
If he returns, Great! but if we really want to be SB contenders next year Licht has alot of work to do. Just my 2 cents guys, Go Bucs!…
February 1st, 2023 at 7:14 am
A good team can help a so so coach. A good coach can help a so.so team. A bad coach can destroy a good team. That’s what the Bucs experienced in 2022.
February 1st, 2023 at 7:18 am
Brady is done. Is it just me or did TB12 just look plain bored and disinterested in the Dallas embarrassment?
February 1st, 2023 at 7:20 am
Joe never kept calling Mike Smith a failed defensive coordinator, but keeps calling Byron Leftwich a failed offensive coordinator even though Leftwich won us a Super Bowl as our OC just because he had one bad season as our OC. Joe has obvious, hateful bias
February 1st, 2023 at 7:33 am
@Lt. Dan,
The whole team appeared bored and disinterested during that game. Hard to blame them when you have a coach who couldn’t fire up a group of freshmen getting ready for the year’s first frat party. Think Brady realized he was going to be operating the same failed game plan they’ve been running all year. At some point, anyone would become numb to the ineptitude surrounding them.
February 1st, 2023 at 7:43 am
Let him walk
There is not point in trying to build a team around a guy that’s year-to-year PLUS whatever talent that plays under Bowles will be wasted
Just move on already!
February 1st, 2023 at 8:17 am
Accoring to Bradys instagram he is retiring, he just posted it.
February 1st, 2023 at 8:20 am
Brady Retiring.
February 1st, 2023 at 8:22 am
Brady announced his retirement
February 1st, 2023 at 8:23 am
Gage plus Rudolph plus Julio Jones would have equaled an enticing contract offer to Gronkowski.
If we had offered Gronk, the highest TE salary in the league, he would have signed.
Our running game was the worst in the NFL because we lost Marpet, Jensen AND Gronk.
We need Gronkowski if we want to win next year.
Make him the highest paid TE in the league.
Because he DESERVES it!
(PS- Jensen played on 1 leg)
Go watch the film.
February 1st, 2023 at 8:35 am
We let Cappa go and signed Gage for more money. I mean what GM would do that. I said at the time that was awful. We drafted and developed Cappa. We let a high pick perform well and in his prime leave for a 3rd wr. Poor gming.
February 1st, 2023 at 8:39 am
It was fun being relevant for a little while. Thank you GOAT.
February 1st, 2023 at 12:33 pm
For all you Rhodes Scholars that talked poopoo about Tom. Well, you got your wish. So next year just don’t whine. All the Tampa fans that try to find someone to blame, let me preach on it; Stonehinge and Cletus ran Tom away. No doubt about it!!!!!!
February 1st, 2023 at 6:56 pm
First of all he’s retired. And really ? “Improve the weapons around him” ? At least 27 other teams would love to have the weapons the Bucs have. The problem was the INJURIES first and foremost , and then the OC couldn’t get it done with what he had. If BA was still the coach , the Bucs would have replaced every single serious injury to every single serious starter on the team as he did the 2 years he was coaching with Brady . Jensen went down in training camp , but the front office sat on their hands. Same goes for everything else including the trade deadline… Almost like they wanted the team to fail without BA … Go Bucs and thank you for everything you did for our Bucs and our Tampa Bay area TB12
February 2nd, 2023 at 3:12 pm
Brady has retired. Welp back to the succaneers we go. It’s Been fun… atleast Mike And David got a ring for sticking with us through all the turmoil over the years. Wonder what Josh freeman is doing these days