Tampa Bay Buccaneers Give Tom Brady Little Reason To Return Following Humbling Playoff Loss

The 2022 Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ season is finally over.

After going through an entire season struggling on the offensive end, showing little signs of life during all 17 weeks, the Buccaneers’ season came to a halt in a 31-14 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in the wild card round of the playoffs.

While the Buccaneers’ season is over, attention will immediately shift to Tom Brady’s future. The 45-year-old quarterback will be a free agent in the offseason and he has given little indication that he’ll actually return for a fourth season in Tampa Bay.

After struggling through much of the night following a 66-pass outing — two shy of the single-game playoff record — Brady’s message to the media following the game sounded like a goodbye.

“I love this organization,” said Brady. “It’s a great place to be. Thank you everybody for welcoming me. Just very grateful for the respect and I hope I gave it back to you guys.”

He also gave little indication that he was returning for sure next season.

“There has been a lot of focus on this game,” said Brady. “It’s just been one day at a time — truly.”

For all of the Buccaneers’ struggles this season, there’s little doubt that Brady was a little off this year. In a perfect microcosm of Tampa Bay’s fortunes this season, Brady threw his first red zone interception since the 2019 season. In other words, it was his first interception in the red zone as a member of the Buccaneers.

That key moment came while the Buccaneers were trailing just 6-0 midway through the first quarter.

“That certainly didn’t help our cause,” Brady said after the game.

He was off throughout the night on multiple passes, including a pass that sailed past a wide-open Mike Evans with an opportunity to get into field goal range at the end of the first half.

There’s little doubt that Brady isn’t quite the quarterback that he was even just a couple years ago. Maybe that has to do with the fact that he’s minimizing taking hits as a 45-year-old quarterback. But it also has a lot to do with his surroundings.

The offense as a unit has been a mess since Week 1. Outside of minor streaks here and there — such as their 30-point outburst in a division-clinching win over the Carolina Panthers in Week 17 — the unit has been every bit as bad as their 25th-in-the-league ranking in points per game.

Part of that has to do with the makeshift offensive line that’s been in place since the day of Ryan Jensen’s knee injury during training camp. It wasn’t until the playoff loss to the Cowboys that the Pro Bowl center made his season debut.

Some of it has to do with offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and his inability to come up with an effective offensive game plan despite featuring Pro Bowlers such as Brady, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin in the offense. As reported by Pewter Report following the game, Tampa Bay is expected to fire Leftwich after four seasons.

With the Buccaneers likely committing to Todd Bowles for a second season, Tampa Bay had to make some sort of change to convince Brady to return. That move alone obviously won’t be enough as the Buccaneers will also have to shore up the offensive line along with potentially looking for cost-effective replacements for multiple veterans.

The Buccaneers are more than $41 million over the salary cap, the second-worst figure in the league entering the 2023 offseason.

If Brady does decide to return, he won’t have any shortage of possible suitors. As reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Tampa Bay will not only make a run at re-signing Brady, but so could three other teams — the Tennessee Titans, San Francisco 49ers and Las Vegas Raiders.

“The Tennessee Titans still have some quarterback questions,” said Rapoport. “The 49ers if they do not decide to roll with Brock Purdy, although he’s certainly stating his case. And then the Las Vegas Raiders, who have several of his old friends including Josh McDaniels.”

Brady certainly has his limitations as he concludes his 23rd season in the league. There is simply no precedent for a quarterback of Brady’s stature playing into his 24th season at the age of 46. And yet here we are, with Brady having just completed a season in which he broke the league record for completions and pass attempts at the age of 45.

Whether or not Brady decides to return for another season, it’s hard to envision the seven-time Super Bowl champion giving the Buccaneers another shot.

If “Terrific Tom” does decide to return for another dance, it’ll likely be with a team not named the Buccaneers.