In less than six weeks, Tom Brady went from being a quarterback to the Super Bowl contending Tampa Bay Buccaneers to announcing his retirement and then his announcement to come back to the Buccaneers. There could possibly be one more twist to this saga that would add even more chaos to an already chaotic offseason.
NESN’s Dale Arnold posted on Twitter Thursday that he “would not be surprised if Tom Brady didn’t play for the Buccaneers next season” and indicated that he would go to the Miami Dolphins. Arnold doubled down and noted that Rob Gronkowski isn’t yet back with the Buccaneers, indicating that he was leaving his options open to possibly go with Brady to Miami.
On the surface, that seemed like nothing more than speculation but Arnold reveal to WEEI’s Lou Merloni and Christian Fauria on their Merloni & Fauria show that “They’re working on it…They might, but they might not get it done.”
As the tweet noted, Arnold did report Brady to the Buccaneers so he’s got some credibility though adding the caveat that “they might not get it done” gives him an out for a rather implausible story. That being said, people like Jeff Howe of The Athletic have already poured cold water on Arnold’s report, saying that “there’s nothing happening between” Miami and Tampa Bay while other NFL insiders like Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport have largely ignored the report so that should be a clue how they’re treating the story.
Nevertheless, a report like this is catnip for the public as social media was rampant with reactions to the potential Brady to Miami report.
https://twitter.com/darling_Nikkee/status/1507383089688834048?s=20&t=9EHhnm7-bCntLUoTkI9hUQ