Buccaneers' HC Says Teams ‘Can’t Tailor’ Rosters for QBs After Tom Brady Era in Tampa
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed free agent quarterback Tom Brady away from the New England Patriots in the 2020 offseason.
After that, the Bucs traded for tight end Rob Gronkowski to come out of retirement, traded up in the first round of the NFL Draft to get an All-Pro caliber offensive tackle to protect Brady, and eventually signed controversial wide receiver Antonio Brown.
All to make sure Brady had everything he needed to be as successful as possible with Tampa Bay.
And it worked.
But not because Brady wanted it, says current head coach Todd Bowles, but because then head coach Bruce Arians and general manager Jason Licht decided to make it happen.
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"You run the team how you run the team," Bowles said while in Phoenix for the NFL league meetings in March. "You can't tailor the team towards a quarterback. You can get a guy here or there or you can listen and look to see if it fits. But the coach and the GM run the team."
Now, this isn't Bowles' way of saying Brady had no influence - at least not the way we see it - but more so a restating of what has been the message from the Bucs' front office throughout the past three years.
Brady has input, but he doesn't have control.
At the end of the three years, however, everyone involved has a Super Bowl ring to show for their efforts.
And their success has become a case study of sorts for the New York Jets as they prepare to bring on Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers who has already reportedly given a list of demands to his new team.
Whenever Rodgers joins the Jets, he'll have something Brady didn't have in his first season with the Buccaneers though.
In Nathaniel Hackett, he'll have an offensive coordinator he knows, and who knows him.
And that could help New York achieve the amazing feat Tampa Bay did, considering many expected Brady's first year to be a learning process, not a championship performance.
"When Tom came in, Bruce was such a great offensive coordinator, him and Byron (Leftwich), they had a plan," Bowles said. "But you also have to listen to see what he's comfortable with, as well...It's a lot of give and take there. You want to run your system but you want to help him be successful, so you want to bring some things to the table that he does well also."
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Lately, while Rodgers has been good at football, he's been even better at on-field displays of frustration and public interviews.
But the Jets have already signed Alan Lazard, a receiver that was reportedly on Rodgers' list of wants.
Call it Rodgers getting control and being tailored to, or New York head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas making the decision to make their eventual new quarterback more comfortable.
Whatever it is, it's a smart decision.
One similar to the ones Arians and Licht made in 2020, and those helped them get a second Lombardi Trophy for Tampa Bay.
That boat parade alone was worth all the questions of who was really in charge, we're sure.
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Find David Harrison on Twitter @DHarrison82
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