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Bruce Arians would like you to believe that Tom Brady had nothing to do with the Bucs signing Antonio Brown despite various reports to the contrary.
On Saturday, both Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport reported that Brady pushed for the team to sign Brown as soon as he cleared his eight-game suspension.
Tom Brady has been a driving force behind Tampa’s interest. Now both sides working to make it happen. https://t.co/rIyKcYN3Mu
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 23, 2020
Sources: The #Bucs have been quietly working on a deal with WR Antonio Brown and it’s now
"very close.” Tom Brady has been pushing for this for some time. Now looks to be happening. Brown is on his way to TB.— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 23, 2020
From @NFLGameDay: Tom Brady wanted to bring two players with him when he landed with a new team in free agency — Gronk and Antonio Brown. With AB joining the #Bucs, Brady gets his wish and Tampa gets more firepower. pic.twitter.com/ApC0xRBBma
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 25, 2020
While speaking to the media on Sunday, Arians claimed Brady had nothing to do with the signing and that it was up to him and GM Jason Licht.
Bruce Arians on Antonio Brown: "Tom had nothing to do with this. This is something Jason (Licht) and I have been talking about for some time.''
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) October 25, 2020
Absolutely no one believed Arians when he said Brady didn’t advocate for the Brown signing.
Cool. https://t.co/R6ptX0fcCZ
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 25, 2020
If anyone believes this… I have a bridge I can sell you too. https://t.co/c0xkqTU61m
— Andre Hutchinson (@andrenghutch) October 26, 2020
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight https://t.co/rhsQ6oKhho
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) October 25, 2020
Fact is Arians publicly stated they were not going to sign Antonio Brown. Now he's on the roster. Brady is the de-facto GM and if Arians doesn't shut up Brady will have him fired. https://t.co/2yv0TrzuS6
— PFN new media (@pfnnewmedia) October 25, 2020
https://twitter.com/lavinator1/status/1320510868593938433
https://t.co/7swrVQDgUA pic.twitter.com/b0kDVQF6EY
— Lick Nee (@Lick_Nee) October 26, 2020
Bruce Arians good coach and also good at lying https://t.co/Qfamxxs5xX
— Lou Bezjak (@LouatTheState) October 25, 2020