Tom Brady has just one more challenge left — and it would be silly to bet against him
So what’s next for Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers?
How about something that’s never before been done: A starting quarterback winning consecutive Super Bowls for two different teams.
Really, that’s all that’s left for the greatest player in NFL history. Brady, who has already committed to returning for a 22nd NFL season this fall, will own most every major career record for his position by the end of next season.
By October at the latest (assuming Brady stays healthy), he will pass Drew Brees for first on the league’s all-time passing yards list.
But Brady has always been driven by team, not personal goals. Wins are the thing.
And if he does the unthinkable in 2021 — win an eighth Super Bowl at age 44 — he will become the only back-to-back champion for two different teams.
So how does that happen?
Jason Licht, the Buccaneers’ general manager, needs another masterful performance.
Licht deserves all kinds of credit for using free agency to augment an already talented offense.
Now he’s tasked with either retaining or replacing many of those pieces with a limited budget.
The Buccaneers, who demolished the Chiefs 31-9 on Sunday night, enter the NFL offseason with just 30 players under contract. Brady is one of them; he will earn at least $25 million in 2021.
And while the Buccaneers have an estimated $38.1 million in cap space — eighth-most in the league — that won’t go as far as it sounds. Tampa Bay is in danger of losing some of its most important players on defense.
Linebackers Shaquil Barrett and Lavonte David are both free agents expected to cash in this offseason. Barrett, according to Spotrac, has an estimated market value of $19.7 million annually. David would likely fetch upwards of $13 million a year, the site estimates.
On offense, Leonard Fournette proved he still is a lead back in this league, making good on his one-year prove-it deal after the Jaguars released him. He could cost another $8 million a year to keep, Spotrac believes.
“I’m very, very confident,” a bleary-eyed Bucs coach Bruce Arians said Monday morning, when asked about keeping the nucleus of his team together. “I have all the trust in Jason and what he will do. These guys, they have a bond and there will be dollars involved, but I think this group is so, so close, sometimes dollars don’t matter. We’ll do everything we can to get the dollars right too, because they earned it.”
While Brady is under contract, the Buccaneers will need to find money for tight end Rob Gronkowski, whose contract is expiring but is expected back in 2021.
And wide receiver Antonio Brown is up too, and he wants to return as well.
The Buccaneers should be motivated to find a way to make both happen, considering those two scored three of the team’s four touchdowns Sunday night.
Plus, given how much catch-up Tampa Bay had to play due to the pandemic, Arians surely wants as much continuity as possible, especially since the offseason program will likely be virtual again this offseason.
“Everybody was dealing with a bunch of things that were challenging,” Brady said Monday. “.... Everybody worked at it together. Everyone, every day showing up. We just worked every day. BA had incredible confidence in us from the moment we got started. ... He just kept believing we could do it. When the coach believes in it, the players believe in it too.”
The bettors?
They’re believers as well.
The Buccaneers begin the offseason as 10-to-1 favorites to win Super Bowl 56, the third-best odds of any NFL team.
“Hopefully we can keep this band together and have an offseason where we actually know what the hell we’re doing,” Arians said. “The sky’s the limit for this group.”
This story was originally published February 8, 2021 at 9:43 AM.
