Tom Brady managed to go nearly a month without talking to the media, but that string finally came to an end over the weekend following the Buccaneers' 27-10 preseason loss to the Colts on Saturday.
Brady's postgame press conference with reporters marked the first time since Aug. 1 that he's done an interview, and as you can imagine, everyone had a lot of questions for him.
Just to do a quick refresher, here's what we've learned about Brady since that Aug. 1 interview:
- Dolphins get fined for tampering. On Aug. 2, the Dolphins got hit with a stiff penalty by the NFL for tampering with Brady. According to the league, the Dolphins made "impermissible communications" with Brady in both 2019 and 2020 while he was still under contract with the Patriots. The Dolphins also had impermissible communications with Brady both "during and after the 2021 season, while he was under contract to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers." Basically, the Dolphins did their best to land Brady and based on reports from Pro Football Talk, Brady wanted to play for the Dolphins. (If Brady didn't want to play for the Dolphins, he could have told them to stop calling him.)
- Dana White says a deal was basically done to bring Brady to the Raiders. Not only did we get the Dolphins bombshell, but the UFC president also dropped a bombshell of his own. During an interview with Rob Gronkowski earlier this month, White said that the Brady-to-Las Vegas deal was so close to being done during free agency in 2020 that the QB was actually looking at houses. "It was almost a done deal, and at the last minute, [Jon] Gruden blew the deal up and said that he didn't want him, and all hell broke loose," White said. 'It was crazy. Brady was already looking at houses. It wasn't being said yet that Gronk was coming. So Las Vegas would have had Brady and Gronk the year that the Bucs won the Super Bowl, except Gruden blew the deal up." If White was the only source for this crazy story, some people would probably have a tough time believing it, but Gronk actually confirmed the details.
- He may have also wanted to play for the 49ers. Let's also not forget that a book came out last October that claimed Brady wanted to sign with the 49ers in 2020 and finish his career in San Francisco. (He grew up a 49ers fan in the Bay Area.) According to the book, which is titled "It's Better To Be Feared," Brady actually reached out to his good friend Wes Welker, who had just finished his first season as the receivers coach for the 49ers. During the conversation, which happened at some point after the 49ers lost to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, Brady made it clear he would immediately sign with the 49ers if they would have him.
That's three teams that Brady may have wanted to play for instead of the Buccaneers. Brady has obviously been following all the news about him over the past four weeks, and he finally responded to the speculation that he was looking to play somewhere besides Tampa Bay.
"I read all these stories about all these different places I was supposed to go or could have gone, and I'm like, 'I only was going to go to one place, which was here,'" Brady told the media on Saturday. "I think this whole organization knows that and all the conversations we've had over a period of time, I chose the right place for me."
Brady may have chosen the right place -- after all, he won a Super Bowl -- but that doesn't necessarily mean they were his first choice. Either way, Brady does sound grateful that he ended up in Tampa Bay.
"I think since I came to this organization, it's been amazing," Brady said. "It's just been an amazing experience for me to come to this place and be as supported as I have over a long period of time."
Brady also went out of his way to thank multiple people in the organization including co-owner Joel Glazer, general manager Jason Licht along with former coach Bruce Arians and current coach Todd Bowles.
"I'm very proud of the effort that everyone's put in to make the relationship work," Brady said. "Joel has been amazing. Jason's a great friend of mine -- Bruce, Todd, all the coaches -- it's been an amazing relationship and I'm very grateful to everybody for allowing me to come down here and experience this part of my football life which, I look back, it would probably be incomplete had I not had it. I'm happy I've had it."
Brady may eventually reveal how close he came to signing with another team that wasn't the Buccaneers, but for now, it doesn't appear to be a topic that he's too interested in talking about. The 45-year-old also answered a question about his 11-day absence and you can read more about that by clicking here.
