Tom Brady managed to go nearly a month without speaking to the media, but that streak finally ended over the weekend after the Buccaneers’ 27-10 preseason loss to the Colts on Saturday.
Brady’s postgame press conference with reporters marked the first time he’s done an interview since Aug. 1, and as you can imagine, everyone had a lot of questions for him.
Just for a quick refresher, here’s what we’ve learned about Brady since that Aug. 1 interview:
- Dolphins are penalized for interference. On August 2, the Dolphins was slapped with a stiff penalty by the NFL for messing with Brady. According to the league, the Dolphins made “impermissible communications” with Brady in 2019 and 2020 while he was still under contract with the Patriots. The Dolphins also had impermissible communications with Brady “through and after 2021 season while he was under contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.” Basically, the Dolphins did their best to get Brady and based on reports from Pro Football Talk, Brady wanted to play for the Dolphins. (If Brady didn’t want to play for the Dolphins, he could have told them not to call him again.)
- Dana White says a deal was essentially done to bring Brady to the Raiders. Not only did we get the Dolphins bombshell, but we also got the president of the UFC dropped a bomb of his own. During an interview with Rob Gronkowski earlier this month, White said the Brady-to-Las Vegas deal was so close to happening during free agency in 2020 that the QB was actually looking at houses. “It was almost a done deal, and at the last minute, [Jon] Gruden blew up the deal and said he didn’t want it, and all hell broke loose,” White said. “It was crazy. Brady was already looking at houses. No word yet that Gronk was coming. So Las Vegas would have had Brady and Gronk the year the Bucs won the Super Bowl, except Gruden blew the deal. If White were the only source for this crazy story, some people would probably have a hard time believing it, but Gronk actually confirmed the details.
- He might also have wanted to play for the 49ers. Let’s also not forget that a book came out last October that claimed Brady wanted to sign with the 49ers in 2020 and finish his career in San Francisco. (He grew up a 49ers fan in the Bay Area.) According to the book, which is titled “It’s Better to Be Afraid,” Brady actually reached out to his good friend Wes Welker, who had just finished his freshman season. as recipient. coach for the 49ers. During the conversation, which took place moments after the 49ers lost to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, Brady made it clear that he would immediately sign with the 49ers if they would have him.
Those are three teams Brady might have wanted to play for instead of the Buccaneers. Brady has obviously been following all the news surrounding him over the last four weeks, and he finally responded to speculation that he was looking to play somewhere other than Tampa Bay.
“I read all these stories about all these different places I should have gone or could have gone, and I’m like, I was only going to go to one place, which was here,” Brady told the media Saturday. . “I think this whole organization knows that and all the conversations we’ve had over a period of time, I’ve chosen the right place for me.”
Brady may have picked the right place — after all, he won a Super Bowl — but that doesn’t mean they were his first choice. Either way, Brady sounds grateful he ended up in Tampa Bay.
“I think since I’ve come into this organization, it’s been amazing,” Brady said. “It’s been a wonderful experience for me to come to this country and be supported as much as I have been over a long period of time.”
Brady also went out of his way to thank many people in the organization, including co-owner Joel Glazer, general manager Jason Licht along with former coach Bruce Arians and current coach Todd Bowles.
“I’m very proud of the effort everyone put in to make the link work,” Brady said. “Joel’s been great. Jason’s a great friend of mine — Bruce, Todd, all the coaches — it’s been a great relationship and I’m so grateful to everybody for letting me come down here and experience this part of my football. life which, looking back, would probably be incomplete if I didn’t have it. I’m glad I had it.”
Brady may eventually reveal how close he was to signing with another team other than the Buccaneers, but for now, it doesn’t seem to be a topic he’s too interested in talking about. The 45-year-old also answered a question about his absence of 11 days and you can read more about it by clicking here.