Do the Bucs think they’ll be better WITHOUT Tom Brady? Claims emerge that the dressing room will be ‘relieved and rejuvenated by his retirement’ after distractions off the pitch in 2022 from his non-retirement and mid-season divorce
Part of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers team could feel “relieved.” Tom Brady has retired from football, according to extraordinary new claims.
Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl winner and widely regarded as the best quarterback to ever play the game, retired in February at age 45 after the Bucs were knocked out of the playoffs by the Dallas Cowboys.
According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, there could be a sense in the locker room that they will get better without Brady.
Florio claimed Wednesday that the Bucs team could be better without the off-field distractions that come with a player of Brady’s caliber and reputation.
“What a mess of distractions last year with everything going on with Brady,” said Florio, as reported by Sports Illustrated. “And to be free of that, to be past that, I think there will be a lot [Bucs] who are relieved, rejuvenated and recharged this year.
There are suggestions that the Bucs locker room could be “rejuvenated” without Tom Brady
Brady emotionally announced his retirement in a video posted on social media in February
Brady first retired last year but changed his mind and returned to the Bucs for the 2022 season
“They won’t say it, but I think they’ll feel it, and I think that’s good for the Buccaneers.”
Brady took 11 days away from the preseason camp the Bucs held last year leading up to the 2022 season, then announced that he and his Brazilian supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen were divorcing after 13 years together following months of speculation.
All of that came against the background of Brady retiring and not retiring in 2022. When he again announced his decision to quit in February, he insisted that this time it really is for good.
‘I’ll get straight to the point. I’m retiring for good,” Brady said in a video posted on social media. “I know the process was pretty big last time, so when I woke up this morning I thought, I’ll just hit record and let you guys know first.
‘It won’t be long-winded. You only get one super emotional retirement essay and I used up mine last year.”
Bucs coach Todd Bowles has supported his team in moving forward with Brady, but admitted that without him they will lose a bit of stardust.
Brady’s divorce from supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen was announced last season
Brady retired after the Bucs were knocked out of the playoffs this year by the Dallas Cowboys
When you replace a player of that size, you’re not replacing him in the first place,” Bowles told NFL.Com in March. “You lose aura. You lose the expectation of being great.
That doesn’t mean you can’t be great. You just have to do it more as a team. We did it as a team when he was there, but he was such a great player and a great person that you all focus on that.
“And now that that’s gone, the perception is that everything else is gone, when in reality it’s not.
“We have a lot of good players in our team on both sides of the ball. We have some pieces to fill, but we have a lot of good footballers in our team.’
Baker Mayfield has been signed by the Bucs as a new quarterback after Brady’s departure.