According to Ryan Gaydos of FOX News, Tom Brady is leaving the New England Patriots and joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Earlier in the day on Tuesday, Brady tweeted out “although my football journey will take me elsewhere, I appreciate everything that we have achieved and am grateful for our incredible TEAM accomplishments.”
The “TEAM” Brady was referring to was the Patriots. A six-time Super Bowl champion with New England, Brady is now going to join a Tampa Bay franchise that is moving on from Jameis Winston and picking up the contract of one of the greatest football players of all-time.
The fact that Tampa Bay decided to go with Brady rather than another free agent quarterback in Philip Rivers, is quite frankly a little surprising. That is because Brady is 42 years of age, and one needs to question a little bit how much life he has left in the tank.
In terms of the contract amount according to TMZ, Brady is set to make $30 million per year. However we do not know at this time the overall length of the contract.
For many football fans, seeing Brady in a different jersey other than the Patriots is going to feel downright strange. He has literally been the heart and soul of New England since taking over from Drew Bledsoe in 2001. That is what happens when a professional sports athlete has remarkable success with a single franchise for two decades.
The 14-time Pro Bowler can still throw at a high level, even though there are some signs of him slowing down. Last season he completed 373 passes in 613 attempts for 4057 yards, 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
What should be also worth noting with Brady joining the Buccaneers is that he will now face Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints not once, but now twice. Has a NFC South Divisional matchup ever generated so much excitement ever before? I don’t think so.
