Getty Image / Mike Ehrmann
Tom Brady only played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for three years, but is almost certainly the best quarterback in franchise history. The GOAT won five playoff games there, including Super Bowl LV over the Chiefs, and led them to the playoffs all three seasons before retiring following the 2022 season.
Apparently, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows during the Brady years in Tampa. Instead, according to current Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield, Tom Brady stressed the team out during his time there.
In three years in Tampa, Brady went 32-18 in the regular season as a starter and 5-3 in the playoffs. He had over 14,000 passing yards and 108 touchdowns against just 3 interceptions. He did that in his age 43, 44, and 45 seasons. No one will ever do that again, it’s safe to say.
But, by the end of his third year, things had clearly gone stale. The offensive line wasn’t playing well, playcalling had taken a step back after Bruce Arians retired as head coach, Todd Bowles was promoted to head coach, and Byron Leftwich assumed playcalling duties, and the team struggled to an 8-9 season in 2022. That was good enough to win a bad NFC South. But, they were blown out in the Wild Card Round by the Cowboys. Brady’s sidekick, Rob Gronkowski, had retired from the team that summer and the vibes were off.
Here’s what Baker Mayfield had to say about what he’s heard about the stress level in Tampa those years, courtesy of USA Today.
On the podcast, Mayfield said, “The building was a little bit different with Tom in there. Obviously, playing-wise, Tom is different. He had everybody dialed in, high-strung environment, so I think everybody was pretty stressed out.”
Mayfield went on to say, “You hear some of the stories about if he didn’t like a certain play call and he didn’t like it throughout the week and they still call it in the game, there might have been a throwaway on purpose or throwing it at the running back or receiver’s feet. There were a lot of mind games going on.”
It’s no surprise that Tom Brady was high-strung. But, he got one of the worst franchises in league history, historically, their second Super Bowl ring. That’s got to count for something.