Why Tom Brady returned to the Bucks

TAMPA. His competitive fire was not put out by sips of champagne during all the toasts to his career, which ended awkwardly just six weeks earlier. Instead, retiree Tom Brady, 44, sounded like he was preparing for a game when he called Bucks quarterback coach Clyde Christensen.

“It was like the morning after we just lost to the Rams,” Christensen said of Brady’s phone call last Sunday, six weeks after the Bucks lost to the eventual Super Bowl 56 champion.

“He had a list. He said, “That’s how we can get better.” I think by then he had been retired for 12 hours or so. The first thing he said was that he didn’t want to go that way. He wanted to make sure we were doing everything we could to win the whole next year.”

Christensen said he’s not sure if there was a tipping point that brought Brady back to the Bucks for the 2022 season.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Christensen said. “I think he could not imagine himself without football. He is a football player. The problem is that he is a footballer at the top of his game. That’s the point.”

Brady’s last season’s stat line is what made retirement so unlikely in the first place. It was signed until 2022.

Brady led the NFL with 5,316 passing yards and 43 touchdowns last season. No quarterback has accomplished as much as Brady, with seven Super Bowl victories, three NFL Most Valuable Player awards, five Super Bowl honors and 15 Pro Bowls.

Tom Brady’s farewell to Tampa Bay and the NFL was premature. He returns for his 23rd season in the league and third with the Bucks. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

He led the Bucks to 29 wins and 55 Super Bowl wins in two seasons in Tampa Bay. It looks like Brady decided to leave the NFL while still at the top of his game.

The retirement announcement was mishandled and Brady’s father, Tom Sr., said his son felt pressurized by the media to announce the decision.

The Bucks did a great job, alternately celebrating Brady’s illustrious career while keeping channels of communication with him open. They also had to get busy making plans to replace him, either through free agency or through a possible trade with the Texans for Deshawn Watson.

Brady’s close relationship with the Bucs-owning Glazer family and general manager Jason Licht, as well as respect for head coach Bruce Arians and his staff, played a significant role in his return journey.

The timing, however, was not random. He announced that he would return ahead of the free agent negotiation period. Brady knew his decision would have a positive effect on player retention.

Hours after Brady decided to return, center Ryan Jensen signed a three-year, $39 million contract. The Bucks retained guard Carlton Davis and guard Aaron Stinney, while wide receiver Chris Godwin signed a three-year, $60 million contract. They also brought in free agent Falcon wide receiver Russell Gage and Giants guard Logan Ryan. Everyone wanted a chance to play with the future Hall of Fame quarterback.

Be aware of the Buccaneers

Subscribe to our free Bucs RedZone Newsletter

We’ll be posting a weekly roundup of news and commentary about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throughout the season.

You are all subscribed!

Would you like to receive more of our free weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s start.

Explore all your options

“I think maybe with his quick comeback he was trying to win over free will so you could build a team around him,” Christensen said. So you had your chance.

Since he announced his retirement on February 1, there has been much speculation and several conspiracy theories about Brady’s true intentions.

It includes one likely scenario in which Brady would join the Miami Dolphins as a minority owner, teaming with Sean Payton as head coach. National reports say these plans fell apart because the dolphins were denied permission to interview Payton. And on the same day that Brady announced his retirement, former Miami Coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL, citing racial discrimination.

Regardless of his reasoning, Brady’s retirement has always seemed a little odd. It seemed odd to Christensen that the most accomplished quarterback in league history would take the time to retire before making such a monumental decision to retire after 22 seasons.

“That’s what was so amazing about him announcing so quickly,” Christensen said. “That’s not what they usually do. They know they are tired, they are physically exhausted. Usually they wait a month or two. Wait, then decide.

“It was a little weird. A little out of character.

Calling him out

Quarterback Tom Brady looks for an open receiver during a January 23 playoff loss to the Rams.
[ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]

On January 23, the Bucks lost 30–27 to the Rams after Brady rallied the team from a 27–3 deficit.

On January 28, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported that Brady’s retirement was imminent.

Approximately 21 hours later, ESPN correspondents Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington followed up this report with another, even more definitive one. The networks immediately began covering highlights of Brady’s career and interviewing former teammates and coaches.

On January 31, Brady performed at the Let’s Go! podcast and told host Jim Gray that he hadn’t made a decision about his future yet.

“I’ll know when the time is right,” he told Gray. “…I know there is a lot of interest in when I will stop playing and I understand that. It’s not that I don’t admit it. I just know when I find out, and when I don’t know, I don’t know. I’m not going to rush to any conclusions about this.”

But the conclusion came after 14 hours.

In a reflective letter he posted on social media, Brady cited his desire to spend more time with his wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, and three children as the main reason for ending his career.

“It’s hard for me to write this, but here it is: I am no longer going to make these competitive commitments. I enjoyed my NFL career and now it’s time to focus my time and energy on other things that need my attention.”

Just a week earlier, Payton had resigned as head coach of the Saints.

Speaking to reporters March 2 at an NFL scouting facility in Indianapolis, Dolphins general manager Chris Grier admitted they called the Saints about Payton but were denied the opportunity to speak with him. He did not name Brady as a possible owner, but only said that he was not interested in him as a player.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk tried to tie a few dots in regards to Brady and his role in the Dolphins.

That connection, according to Florio, stems from Brady’s friendship with Bruce Beal, who has been described as a “significant limited Dolphins partner who is willing to buy the team” from owner Stephen Ross, the University of Michigan’s most prolific donor.

Ross is under league investigation after Flores claimed Ross encouraged him to lose games in 2019 by offering him $100,000 for each loss.

“They planned to go after both (Brady and Payton) and the Flores lawsuit resulted in them shutting him down,” Florio told NFL Network’s Rich Eisen. Florio said that several Dolphins sources have confirmed their interest in Payton, and “as for Brady, all Dolphins sources would admit if there were discussions that he would become a minority owner.”

Brady and Payton are friends and are represented by agent Donald Yee, who did not respond to requests for comment on the story.

Brady and Bündchen reportedly bought a $17 million 5,772-square-foot parcel of land in Biscayne Bay — an area nicknamed the “Billionaire’s Bunker” by wealthy residents like Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner — overlooking the Miami skyline. They build an eco-friendly mansion on the site of the original house.

Glazers, Lichts and Arians

Tom Brady and General Manager Jason Licht chat during practice at the AdventHealth Training Center. [ MARTHA ASENCIO RHINE | Times (2021) ]

There is no doubt that two years of playing for the Bucks benefited Brady and his brand. In addition to winning Super Bowl 7, he gained the control he lacked in New England playing for Bill Belichick. In short, virtually nothing Brady asked for would have been turned down by the Bucks.

They traded tight end Rob Gronkowski, announced they were running back Leonard Furnett, signed troubled wide receiver Antonio Brown – twice. They invited Alex Guerrero, Brady’s personal trainer and co-founder of TB12, to the AdventHealth training center to work with all of their players.

Licht, who was with New England when Brady was selected 199th overall in the 2000 Michigan Draft, often speaks of his special connection to the greatest quarterback of all time.

But since Brady’s retirement, stories have constantly surfaced that Brady’s relationship with the Arians had soured.

Arian vehemently denied this.

“There seems to be one (story) every day now,” Aryan told the Tampa Bay Times last month. “Everyone assumes that he is going somewhere else. It does not bother me. This other nonsense, relationships, it’s so contrived.

However, while Licht said they would “leave the lights on” for Brady, the Arians vowed not to trade his rights. “Nope. Bad business,” he said.

Last Saturday, whether it was coincidence or calculation, Brady attended Manchester United’s game against Tottenham Hotspur. He sat with the Glazer family, who own both the Bucks and Manchester United. Cristiano Ronaldo, football Tom Brady, scored three goals and later asked Brady if he had finished playing. Brady wrinkled his face and looked unsure.

It remains unclear if Brady was there to inform the Glazers of his decision to return, but by 7:15 p.m. the following evening, he was back with the Bucks to play his 23rd season in the NFL.

“Over the past two months, I have realized that my place is still on the field, not in the stands. This time will come. But it’s not now. I love my teammates and I love my supportive family. They make it all possible. … Unfinished business.”

Christensen has every reason to believe that Brady will do well this season.

“I think he will play very, very well again, and a lot will depend on who is in the next cast,” Christensen said.

But Brady has a plan. He’s ready to roll.

“He has a great vision of where he thinks things are going to go,” Christensen said.

Possibly all the way to Super Bowl 57.