Tampa Bay Buccaneers Schedule 2020: When Tom Brady Faces Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Patrick Mahomes

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will receive plenty of attention in the 2020 NFL season. Tom Brady signed with the team as a free agent after 20 years with the New England Patriots, putting the national spotlight on the Bucs for the first time in a long while.

In his first season with Tampa Bay, Brady will play opposite some of the best quarterbacks in the league. Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes are all scheduled to take on the Buccaneers in 2020.

It starts in Week 1 when Tampa Bay visits the New Orleans Saints on Sept. 13. The Saints will host the Bucs at 4:25 p.m. EDT, highlighting the season’s first late-afternoon slate. Because the two teams are division rivals, they will also meet in Tampa Bay for a Week 9 “Sunday Night Football” matchup on Nov. 8.

The Saints have won three straight NFC South titles. New Orleans went 13-3 in both 2018 and 2019. Brees missed five games with a thumb injury last season, though he managed to post a career-high 116.3 passer rating.

Brady and Brees will be 84 years old combined when they go head-to-head.

On Sunday, Oct. 18, the Green Bay Packers will play in Tampa Bay at 4:25 p.m. EDT. The Week 6 matchup will pit two future first-ballot Hall of Famer quarterbacks against one another.

Rodgers will be under the microscope, despite leading the Packers to the 2020 NFC Championship Game. Green Bay traded up in the first round of April’s draft to select Utah State quarterback Jordan Love, Rodgers’ potential successor.

Brady played so well in his final seasons with the Patriots that he forced New England to trade Jimmy Garoppolo, once thought to be Brady’s eventual replacement. Garoppolo and the San Francisco 49ers lost in February’s Super Bowl.

Patrick Mahomes and Brady have met in each of the last two years. That streak extends to a third season on Sunday, Nov. 29. The Kansas City Chiefs will host Tampa Bay in the late-afternoon of Week 12.

Before winning the Super Bowl LIV MVP award, Mahomes led the Chiefs to a 23-16 road victory against Brady and the Patriots in Week 14. In their first-ever meeting two years ago, Mahomes and Brady combined to throw for 692 yards and five touchdowns in a 43-40 New England win.

The Bucs will face the Atlanta Falcons in Week 15 and Week 17. Brady led the Patriots to the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history against Matt Ryan and the Falcons three years ago. Ryan edged Brady for the MVP award that season.

Brady has won 27 playoff games since the Bucs last won a playoff game 17 years ago.