Tom Brady made headlines throughout the past week, largely due to his Netflix roast on Sunday night. The roast was extremely harsh, occasionally pushing beyond what Brady expected. There were countless jokes about his wife, Giselle, and his former teammate, Aaron Hernandez, which dominated the evening. The camera frequently showed Brady looking visibly uncomfortable. At one point, he even confronted Jeff Ross about a joke concerning Robert Kraft, but eventually, Brady took the microphone and delivered some sharp retorts of his own.
Leading up to the roast, Brady’s former teammates appeared on various interviews to promote the event. Lavonte David, in particular, spoke about Brady on Friday, sharing seemingly innocent anecdotes. However, ProFootballTalk has taken one of David’s statements and spun it into a potential accusation against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Did the Buccaneers tamper with Tom Brady during 2020 offseason?
Mike Florio concocted a convoluted argument implying that the Buccaneers tampered with Tom Brady during the 2020 offseason. He builds his case not on solid evidence, but on a story told by Lavonte David to Rich Eisen last week, in which Bruce Arians mentioned Brady being on their radar during an exit meeting.
David recounted his conversation with Coach Arians: “If we don’t get Jameis [Winston] back, we are going to get someone in here for you to get us over the hump . . . get us to the Super Bowl.” Arians apparently indicated Brady. Florio, rather dramatically, interpreted this as a major issue that everyone had overlooked until now.
From this story, Florio concludes that since there has been extensive tampering with Brady in previous years, it’s likely the Bucs did it too. However, this doesn’t necessarily prove tampering, but rather that Brady was on their radar. Florio speculates, “Did they contact Brady prematurely?” This speculation is based on Arians openly discussing pursuing Brady at the Scouting Combine in 2020. After signing him, they tried to create a narrative that they didn’t speak to him before the official league year began.
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Florio’s argument seems like he’s trying to pass on a hot potato he created before quickly grabbing it again. He references past incidents where the Buccaneers clumsily revealed their missteps, like Todd Bowles’ over-explanation regarding Devin White’s deactivation in Week 15, which led to a league investigation.
It’s unclear what Florio’s aim is in suggesting the Buccaneers tampered with Brady. While it’s true that Tampa Bay had Brady on their radar, as did other teams that offseason, there’s no concrete evidence to suggest they broke any rules. There was no investigation, despite Arians’ comments at the combine, and the rest, as they say, is history.
