Tom Brady unexpectedly chose to meet with reporters after his run preparation presentation in Saturday night’s game against the Colts. During his brief remarks, he addressed one of the various elephants that graze the room. “I read all these different stories about all these different places I should have gone or could have gone,” Brady said, via JoeBucsFan.com . “I was only going to go to one place, which was here. I think this whole organization knows that.” This contention is contrary to the facts, as found by the NFL. In four different calendar years, the Dolphins spoke to him at a time when the rules forbade it. He was talked into playing for the Dolphins. He was talked into becoming a minority owner of the Dolphins. He was talked into becoming an executive with the Dolphins. And when he announced his “retirement” on February 1st, the filing later that day of Brian Flores’ lawsuit killed the plan he has described to us as a “done deal”: (1) during Super Bowl week, Brady becomes a Limited Partner in Dolphins; (2) not long after that, the Dolphins acquire the rights to coach Sean Payton from the Saints; and (3) ultimately, the Dolphins acquire Brady’s rights as a player. “All the conversations we’ve had over a period of time, I’ve picked the right place for me,” Brady said. “And I’m very proud of the effort everyone is putting into making the relationship work. Joel [Glazer] she was amazing. Jason [Licht] he’s a great friend of mine, bruce [Arians]Todd [Bowles].” Whether it’s labeled “alternative facts” or some less diplomatic term, it’s simply not the truth. Indeed, if he was never, ever going to play for the Dolphins, why did they keep talking to him when he was under contract with other teams? At some point in 2019, 2020, 2021 or 2022, the Dolphins would have gotten the message, if the message was anything along the lines of “You’re wasting everyone’s time.” Instead, Brady’s good friend (and Dolphins VP) Bruce Beal kept trying because Brady’s friend Beal knew there was a reason to try. Then there’s the fact that, as UFC president Dana White explained a week ago, the Raiders almost had Brady under contract through 2020 until former Las Vegas coach Jon Gruden put the kibosh in motion. Brady, who per White was looking for homes in the area, was set to join the Raiders, not the Bucs. In fairness to Brady, what else could he have said? “Yeah, I wanted to play for the Raiders two years ago, but Gruden didn’t want me”? “Sure, I was planning on playing for the Dolphins this season, but after Flores filed his lawsuit, that was it?” He says what he needs to say and does what he needs to do to get ahead. And to make the most of what will likely be his last season in the NFL (then again, maybe not), he needs to shut down any talk that, deep down, he wanted 2022 to be much different than playing for the Buccaneers.
