Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will begin the 2021 NFL season with a home opener against the Dallas Cowboys
Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will begin the 2021 NFL season with a home opener against the Dallas Cowboys GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Patrick Smith

KEY POINTS

  • Tom Brady has won seven Super Bowl championships
  • Tampa Bay had one Super Bowl championship prior to signing Brady
  • Brady opens up about his free-agency experience

Tom Brady cemented his claim for being the best player to ever play football in the NFL with seven Super Bowl wins to his name.

He led the New England Patriots to six titles in his first 19 years with the team, tying the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most Super Bowl victories among all 32 teams in the NFL.

His seventh ring came after joining one of the unlikeliest teams to ever receive the offensive blessing that is Brady--the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Bucs had been Super Bowl champions before in 2002 after beating the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII to a score of 48-21.

Former Tampa Bay quarterback and 2013 Heisman winner Jameis Winston was paired with quarterback whisperer Bruce Arians for the 2019 season.

Winston set a franchise record with 5,109 passing yards and became the eighth player in NFL history to have 5,000 passing yards or more.

He also set a new franchise record with 33 touchdowns but also threw 30 picks, being the first quarterback to have thirty of each in a season.

They decided to move on from Winston and joined in the race for Tom Brady.

The race for Tom Brady’s signature was essentially a two-team race, according to NFL correspondent Jim Trotter.

The decision to go to the Bucs was made off of two things: his family and working with Arians.

“Brady wanted to remain close to his son from a previous relationship who lives in the NY area, and the Brady family spends a lot of leisure time in Miami, Costa Rica and South America,” said Trotter in a tweet.

Arians is known to bring the best out of his quarterbacks, and his one season with Winston proved that he’s still got it.

In a teaser for HBO’s LeBron James/Maverick Carter-produced show “The Shop,” Brady talked briefly about his free agency experience in 2020.

Many have led to speculating that Brady was referring to former New England Patriots backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and the San Francisco 49ers, Mitch Trubisky and the Chicago Bears, and even the Los Angeles Rams.

But with ESPN senior NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler mentioning that the Tennessee Titans were in the thick of things for the Brady sweepstakes, the then six-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback could've been referring to them and their eventual signing of Ryan Tannehill.

Regardless of whichever team that is, not pulling out all the stops to sign Brady and then hearing this bit of info have to sting.

RELATED STORIES
Super Bowl