Tom Brady and Antonio Brown have reunited after the former All-Pro receiver inked a one-year deal with the Buccaneers and is set to return to game action once his suspension concludes following Week 8. Brown joined forces with Brady in his previous stop with the Patriots last season but only lasted one game before New England was forced to cut bait due to off the field issues surrounding the talented, but troubled pass catcher.
Despite that brief time together, Brady and Brown developed a quick rapport, which was evident in that Week 2 game against Miami in 2019 where he caught four of his eight targets for 56 yards and a touchdown. Given that strong connection, rumblings pointed to Brady pushing the envelope for the Bucs brass to go out and bring Brown aboard as he neared the end of his suspension and other teams started to circle.
During his recent appearance with Jim Gray on Westwood One Radio on Monday night, however, Brady disputed that notion
"Well, I'm the quarterback of the team, and that's my role and responsibility," he told Gray, as transcribed by WEEI.com. "I do appreciate the relationship I have with [Arians] and [GM] Jason Licht. I think they know me, they know what my style is, and I have a tremendous amount of trust in them, and they're putting the team first. They've gone out and done a great job getting players that help us do our job better."
Brady's comments here echo what Bruce Arians told reporters on Sunday when asked if his quarterback was the driving force in the team pursuing and eventually signing Brown. That said, Arians was on record this offseason saying that Brown to Tampa was "not gonna happen" and that "it's just not a fit here."
"Tom had nothing to do with this," Arians said Sunday. "This is something [GM] Jason [Licht] and I have been talking about for some time."
While it's neither here nor there about how Brown got to the Buccaneers, he's there now and able to make his debut as early as Week 9. At that point, he'll be able to join forces with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Rob Gronkowski, and others that make up arguably the best skill position grouping of Tom Brady's career.
"Certainly, I'm happy for Antonio to get an opportunity to resume his career. He's put a lot of time and energy into working on a lot of things in his life, and I know he's excited to play football. So everyone's going to earn a role on our team, and I know that's his mind-set, too," Brady said. "I think the receiver position is really a position of strength on our offense, and how Antonio fits into that is going to be up to him and the role that he can create for himself which we all know of what he's capable of when he's playing."
While things are promising for Brown and the Bucs at the moment, the receiver does have a civil sexual assault trial set for December. Arians added on Sunday that Brown "won't be with us" if the allegations he is facing are proven to be true.
