Tampa Bay Buccaneers Legend QB Tom Brady Sees a Lot of 'Mediocrity in the NFL'

Speaking to Stephen A. Smith former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady weighed in on the state of the game today.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have some legendary defenders that have walked the hallways of the franchise facilities over the years, and like it or not some of them wouldn't be as effective in today's NFL because of the rule changes that have taken player safety up a notch or two.

Protected more than others are quarterbacks, including Tom Brady who played for three years with the Buccaneers leading the franchise to a Super Bowl win and two more playoff appearances after it.

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But Brady himself has spoken about the over-regulation of the NFL today, and in retirement, the Tampa Bay legend has once again spoken out against the way football is trending.

"I think there's a lot of mediocrity in today's NFL," Brady said in an interview on The Stephen A. Smith Show. "I don't see the excellence that I saw in the past."

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady making adjustments against the San Francisco 49ers defense / Cary Edmondson, USA Today

"Why not?" Smith asked.

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"I think the coaching isn't as good as it was, I don't think the development of young players is as good as it was," Brady said. "The rules have allowed a lot of bad habits to get into the actual performance of the game. So I just think the product, in my opinion, is less than what it's been...You hear coaches complaining about their own players being tackled and not necessarily - why don't they talk to their players about how to protect themselves? We used to work on the fundamentals of those things all the time. Now they're trying to be regulated all the time. Offensive players need to protect themselves. It's not up to a defensive player to protect an offensive player."

Some will scoff at Brady's comments knowing that certain rules like the infamous 'Tuck Rule' were instituted because of plays he was involved in.

And we'll all remember times when Brady yelled at officials for not throwing a flag on contact to his head or threw into coverage expecting a flag for contact or pass interference to be thrown. 

But it's also important to remember that taking advantage of those rules as a competitor is not the same as condoning them.

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Whether we agree with Brady that the game has gotten to a point of being over-officiated or not, after 23 years on the field and seven Super Bowl championships, he probably feels well qualified to share such an opinion.

However, just like in past instances, it's unlikely the league will take any of it to heart.