It might have been hard to say it after just one season, but it is fair to say now that Tom Brady is the most important player in Buccaneers history.
After just two seasons as a member of the Buccaneers, no member of the team in franchise history has ever made a bigger impact on the team than Tom Brady. It certainly has to do with the position and Brady’s standing with the league, and it is hard to argue any other player has ever impacted this team more.
This might come across as blasphemous to people who have followed the team throughout its history, but it is fair to ask a few questions:
Could Derrick Brooks do what Brady has done? Could Alstott? Selmon? Sapp? These guys are favorites in the franchise and obvious owners of clear franchise honors, but none of them had the impact that Brady did.
For starters, joining a team that missed the playoffs the year before and then winning the Super Bowl as the main change and contributor is impossible for a singular player at any position other than quarterback. Defenders don’t have that impact, and running backs certainly don’t.
Brady plays the right position to have the biggest impact on the field even if he has only been on the team for two years.
While his counterparts in the argument are excellent players in their own regards, none of them have the off-field sway that Brady does, and that is arguably more important.
Without Brady, Leonard Fournette could be playing for the Patriots. Russell Gage could’ve signed anywhere else.
Tom Brady had a ridiculous hand in constructing this team by keeping open lines of dialogue between the Bucs and his teammates, and the ability to make changes like he did during the Fournette negotiations show that Brady’s sway will always put him above any counterparts in then history of the team from even just the business side of the game.
The Bucs could’ve survived without Fournette, but if Brady wants him back, then he is the guy to trust. The ability to make moves like as a player GM and also getting them right is just generally so foreign to the NFL.
Don’t get us wrong, there are a lot of other great names out there than deserve plenty of love and support for what they did during their time with the Bucs, but none of them had the ability to do what Brady did with Fournette off the field, and there is a reason why none of them are called the GOAT too.
The Ring of Honor is easily on the horizon for Brady as the most important player in franchise history.
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