When Tom Brady left the Patriots in 2020, it was no foregone conclusion that he’d join the Buccaneers, a team that had a talented roster but hadn’t won a playoff game since ’02. According to ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, had things broken a bit differently, Brady may be suiting up for one of the Bucs’ NFC South rivals right now.
In an episode of the ESPN Daily podcast last week, NFL insider Jeff Darlington peeled back the curtain on Brady’s dalliance with another Florida team: the Dolphins. The NFL recently announced that Miami had made “impermissible” contact with the legendary quarterback while he was with New England in 2019 and ’20, and the Buccaneers in ’21, with the possibility of Brady joining the franchise as a minority owner and potentially starting quarterback.
In January 2022, the team also had contact with then-Saints coach Sean Payton without the franchise’s permission, before he stepped down during the offseason. The Brady-Payton pair is not a coincidence, Darlington says. Had Drew Brees retired after 2020, when Brady was looking for a new team, Darlington says that Brady would have taken his place as Saints quarterback under Payton, a move that was rumored at the time.
