NFL Dream Team: Three Buccaneers Would Start on Ideal Roster

Including a quarterback many suddenly seem to have lost faith in.

Tom Brady of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has heard all kinds of reasons why he shouldn't - or wouldn't - be the quarterback he is today. 

Recently, industry experts have even ranked him outside the top five NFL quarterbacks this season, and Bucky Brooks even said Brady wasn't one of the scarier signal-callers to go against!

Turns out there isn't an anti-Brady conspiracy going on though - because I was starting to wonder, honestly - and when NFL.com's senior researcher Anthony Holzman-Escareno put together the "best NFL team money can buy", he led it off with the legend himself. 

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"After working through situations with Josh Allen and Justin Herbert in this spot, then pairing each with Tom Brady, the obvious became apparent," Holzman-Escareno wrote. "The greatest team money can buy in 2022 needed the greatest quarterback in NFL history. Not only does Brady have more Super Bowl rings than any player, head coach or franchise, but he also led the NFL in passing yards (5,316) and touchdowns (43) last season as the youngest 44-year-old you've ever seen. And since joining the Buccaneers in 2020, Brady leads the NFL in deep pass completions (20-plus air yards) with 57."

Brady wasn't the only Bucs player on this ideal roster though. Joining him in the starting lineup are right tackle Tristan Wirfs and defensive tackle, Vita Vea.

"Tristan Wirfs has been an elite starting right tackle since entering Tampa Bay's lineup in Week 1 of his 2020 rookie season," the NFL researcher wrote about young Wirfs. "The 2021 first-team All-Pro, who was PFF's sixth-highest graded OT last season, has yet to miss a regular-season game in his career."

Obviously, he also had high praise for Vea as well, writing,

"Big men aren't supposed to move like Vita Vea. The 6-4, 347-pound defensive tackle amassed a career-high 4.0 sacks in 2021 en route to his first Pro Bowl nod, and his 85.7 PFF pass rush grade since 2020 ranks seventh among interior defensive linemen."

Tampa Bay defensive lineman Akiem Hicks also made the roster, just not as a starter.

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Buccaneers' offensive linemen Shaq Mason and Ryan Jensen were listed as players considered for making the team, while Alex Cappa defected to the Cincinnati Bengals and was *deservedly left off the roster as well.

Cornerbacks Sean Murphy-Bunting and Jamel Dean received consideration to make the team's defensive unit, while Carlton Davis III **surprisingly did not.

For more on this and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers check out James Yarcho and David Harrison on the Locked On Bucs Podcast!

*Just kidding

**Not kidding