As the NFL post-season looms, Tom Brady is still a factor and will probably be one for the foreseeable future. With NFL Super Wild Card Weekend happening this coming weekend and Tom Brady and the Buccaneers in the picture, playing the Dallas Cowboys, Brady knows how to remain in the picture.
Now the questions for the 45-year-old veteran are will he return next year, even if he doesn’t make it deep into the playoffs, let alone do the unlikely and get another chip for the franchise? All signs indicate that Brady still has the fire in his belly for the game, seeing how he discarded his marriage by unretiring.
The #Raiders are actively looking into signing pending free-agent QB Tom Brady.
"I can tell you, unequivocally, it is a fact. The Raiders are looking into signing Tom Brady." – @AlbertBreer
Breer adds that the Raiders are also looking at Jimmy Garoppolo. pic.twitter.com/4c83Y26HN0
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 9, 2023
Stay The Course
Brady will become an unrestricted free agent in 2023 and is reportedly looking at all options to stay in the NFL. One team that is looking to make a play for Brady is the Las Vegas Raiders. Per journalist and NFL insider Albert Breer, “the Raiders are looking into signing Tom Brady.”
Ironically, Brady entertained the team before, along with an assist from UFC president Dana White. Back in August last year, during the UFC 278 alternate commentary channel known as the “Gronkcast,” featuring former NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski and his family, White revealed how he tried to bring Brady and Gronk to the desert. Unfortunately, this was during the Jon Gruden coaching era and he wasn’t having it.
UFC President Dana White claims he was working on getting Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski to the Las Vegas #Raiders in 2020, but Jon Gruden decided in the last minute that he didn’t want to do it.
Gronk: “That’s exactly what’s happened.”pic.twitter.com/clcIFMS0xV
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) August 21, 2022
“I worked to put that deal together for Brady and Gronk to come to the Raiders,” White said. “It was almost a done deal. At the last minute Gruden blew the deal up and said that he didn’t want them.
“All hell broke loose, man, it was crazy. Brady was already looking at houses, and it wasn’t being said yet that Gronk was coming. So Las Vegas would have had Brady and Gronk the year the Bucs won the Super Bowl, except Gruden blew the deal up. There’s so much story that goes along with this behind the scenes. … I was never going to tell that story until Gronk just said it.”
In 2021, during an interview on LeBron James’ “The Shop,” Brady revealed that a team had pulled out on a deal for him at the last minute to stick with their QB.
“One of the teams, they weren’t interested at the very end. I was thinking, ‘You’re sticking with that motherf–ker?’” Brady said, leaving many initially wondering who he was talking about. Later, it is pretty obvious that it was Raiders QB Derek Carr.
GOAT In The Desert?
The Las Vegas Raiders benched Derek Carr for the remainder of the season in Week 17, starting Jarrett Stidham, and many believe Carr will be targeted for a trade by QB-starved teams like the New York Jets. With other QBs like Jimmy Garoppolo also on the Raiders’ radar, Brady is no doubt the pick everyone is gunning for.
Sean Slater, a 7-year-old Buccaneers fan, asked Tom Brady if he could throw a 100-yard pass to Mike Evans.
“I could probably throw it maybe 60 yards to Mike,” Brady said.
And, of course, Brady delivered.
His 63-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans traveled 57.6 yards in the air. pic.twitter.com/uiPHP5IohN
— Kinnu Singh (@ByKinnuSingh) January 1, 2023
With a renewed commitment to the game and a distractionless season next year, the trade that Dana White tried to put together might just be a few years deferred.
