The Buccaneers need to stop planning for a Tom Brady return.
There are a lot of people that Tom Brady has made to look foolish. Trying to make any definitive statements on who the GOAT will be or what he will do is a dangerous game. Still, Brady is not playing for the Buccaneers in 2022.
Watching Brady’s actions for a short period of time over the past few weeks tells us everything we need to know.
Jason Licht and the Buccaneers seem to think that there is still some outside chance that Brady could return, but no one on the planet should expect that to happen.
Bucs GM Jason Licht, on whether they’re 100% ready to accept Tom Brady’s retirement on @gmfb: “We’re going to leave the light on...”
— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) March 1, 2022
Why would Brady sign up to work in the film industry if he is legitimately planning on playing football this year?
The short answer is he wouldn’t. Brady may be going into year three as the starting quarterback for the Buccaneers if he didn’t retire, but that doesn’t mean he has enough familiarity with the offense and the revolving door of teammates to make the decision that he doesn’t need to focus on football to be great.
In past years, Brady has rarely taken days off in the offseason, even after winning the Super Bowl. If he is playing football, Brady’s sole focus is to win games, and winning football games later this year is not currently one of Brady’s priorities based on his recent actions.
This is not a bad thing. Brady should get to choose when his career ends on his own terms. But taking any length of time off and settling into life as a civilian, albeit a very wealthy one, essentially kills the prospect of a return.
Jason Licht and the Buccaneers would be much better off accepting this as the only likely future. It is hard to close the door on the best player in franchise history, but moving into the next era and building a concrete plan for winning post-Brady should be the only focus for Jason Licht and company for now.
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