Bruce Arians Responds to Tom Brady’s Return to Buccaneers With Hilarious Text Message

Tampa’s coach was understandably excited to hear the news.
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Tom Brady sent NFL Twitter into a frenzy Sunday evening when he announced that he would end his brief retirement and return to the Buccaneers for his 23rd NFL season. 

Although there was plenty of excitement about his decision, no one was as pleased to hear the news as much as Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians. The 69-year-old Bucs leader sent a text to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer that showed just how pumped he was to have Brady back in 2022. Arians seems to be celebrating the seven-time Super Bowl champion’s return appropriately.

Arians got the chance to expand on Brady’s un-retirement when Tampa Bay released official statements after the veteran quarterback announced the big news on social media Sunday.

“Tom Brady loves to play football as much as anyone I have ever been around,” Arians said in his statement. “As Tom said, his place right now is on the football field. He is still playing at a championship level and was as productive as anyone in the league last season. We are ecstatic that he decided to continue playing and working toward winning another championship.”

The Buccaneers coach is right to be excited about Brady’s return. At the age of 44, Tampa Bay’s quarterback had one of the best statistical seasons of his career last season, passing for a career-high 5,316 yards with 43 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He was widely regarded to be in the MVP conversation until Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers ran away with the award at the end of the season. 

Brady powered Tampa Bay to a 13–4 record and an NFC South division title last season. The Buccaneers cruised past the Eagles in the wild-card round before falling to the Super Bowl champion Rams in their divisional-round matchup. 

Brady will turn 45 before the 2022 season gets underway, but he’s proven time and time again he can still be productive under center. Now that he’s headed back to Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers are back in the mix as a Super Bowl contender.

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Zach Koons
ZACH KOONS

Zach Koons is a programming editor at Sports Illustrated who frequently writes about Formula One. He joined SI as a breaking/trending news writer in February 2022 before joining the programming team in 2023. Koons previously worked at The Spun and interned for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He currently hosts the "Bleav in Northwestern" podcast and received a bachelor's in journalism from Northwestern University.