Tom Brady’s Return To Tampa Bay Buccaneers Has Changed Entire Landscape Of NFL

Less than two weeks after announcing his return to football, the Tom Brady effect is on full display.

Upon announcing his return after a one-month retirement, Brady’s announcement immediately lifted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back into contention.

When it appeared as if the Bucs could enter the 2022 season with Blaine Gabbert or Kyle Trask as their starting quarterback, Tampa Bay was considered a middle-of-the-pack team by betting sites, as Matt Baker of The Tampa Bay Times notes. In fact, one site (Bovada) immediately considered the Buccaneers the favorites at +700 odds. to win the Super Bowl following Brady’s announcement.

According to Baker, the Buccaneers’ odds to win it all were between +3300 and +2200 odds to win it all this season prior to Brady’s announcement.

Fast forward 10 days later and Brady’s decision looks even better now than it did then. Due to the craziness of free agency, there has been mass movement across the league and it’s been to the detriment of the NFC as a whole.

Over the past two weeks, some of the best players in the league have jumped ship from the NFC to the AFC. Stars such as Russell Wilson, Davante Adams, Matt Ryan, Amari Cooper and Khalil Mack have all defected across conference lines.

Outside of Brady, the only true game-breaking star quarterbacks remaining in the NFC are Matthew Stafford, Kyler Murray and Aaron Rodgers.

The Packers are currently reeling following the trade of Adams and are looking to find a new No. 1 option to replace the five-time Pro Bowler. Meanwhile, the Cardinals are currently dealing with an unhappy Kyler Murray as they try to find a resolution to the young quarterback’s contract demands.

That leaves the Rams as the only true contender in the NFC standing in the Buccaneers’ way. Keep in mind, the Buccaneers overcame a 24-point deficit against the Rams to nearly defeat them in the playoffs. That was without two of their top receivers in Chris Godwin (injury) and Antonio Brown (released) and without their top offensive lineman in tackle Tristan Wirfs.

Outside of the demolition of virtually all of the contenders in the NFC, the Brady effect has been felt in-house. That’s because shortly after Brady’s announcement, key players of the Buccaneers started re-signing.

In fact, Pro Bowl center Ryan Jensen made his decision to re-sign with Tampa Bay just hours after Brady’s social media announcement. In the days after, starting cornerback Carlton Davis re-upped with the Buccaneers, Chris Godwin signed a new deal without the franchise tag and Tampa Bay was able to restructure the contracts of key players such as Mike Evans, Shaq Barrett and Cameron Brate.

That’s not even mentioning the Buccaneers’ signings of wide receiver Russell Gage and safety Logan Ryan in free agency or their recent re-signing of starting running back Leonard Fournette.

Brady’s longtime teammate — Rob Gronkowski — also appears set to re-sign with the Buccaneers.

Bucs general manager Jason Licht recognized Brady’s effect on the trajectory of the Buccaneers and the landscape of the NFL during a recent interview earlier this week. Licht referred to Brady as the “ultimate cheat code.”

“Well, it certainly helped,” Licht said on Monday. “When you have a player like Tom, who’s the greatest quarterback of all-time, if not player, players want to play with a guy like that. So, it certainly helped, I can’t lie. We’ve got the ultimate cheat code with Tom. So, we’re going to take advantage of it while we have it. I think players like it here, regardless. But, having a player like that throwing the ball to them, or even being on the other side of the ball knowing that he’s your quarterback, it certainly helps.”

Prior to the start of free agency, it appeared the Bucs were on the decline. Tampa Bay entered the offseason with very little amount of money in cap space — $3 million over the salary cap entering free agency — and it appeared as if they were destined to lose most of their top free agents.

With the stroke of a keyboard on a random Sunday in the middle of March, Brady changed the entire landscape of the NFL entering the 2022 season.

The Buccaneers are now back as the favorites of the NFC — and potentially the entire league — entering the 2022 season.