Tom Brady's return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sent massive shockwaves around the NFL, included in the Bucs' front office. Shortly after Brady's return, Bruce Arians stepped down as the head coach of the team. The move sparked a debate amongst fans: did Brady and Arians not like each other?

While both men have come out to deny these rumors, some of their statements seemed to contradict their denials. Case in point: Bruce Arians' reasoning as to why he left the team after Tom Brady returned. Here's what the ex-Buccaneers head coach had to say about that, via Rick Stroud:

“I was going the other way. I was thinking he wasn’t going to play,” Arians said. “I was thinking about who are we going to get? Who wants to trade? There wasn’t anybody to draft. That was obvious. Me, to the public, I was fine with the two we had: Blaine (Gabbert) and Kyle (Trask). Because I’ve seen Blaine win with a good team behind him. Had Tom not come back, I probably would still be coaching. I couldn’t give [former Buccaneers DC] Todd [Bowles] that situation.”

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That's certainly an interesting take from Arians. Many fans have long speculated that both Brady and Arians did not particularly like each other despite winning a Super Bowl together. Arians saying that he would've come back as Buccaneers head coach had Tom not come back will certainly turn some heads.

Then again, it's more likely a case of Arians wanting to make his coordinators look really good. The Buccaneers coach has long been supportive of Todd Bowles and Byron Leftwich getting a new coaching gig. Arians likely didn't want Bowles to inherit a team without its superstar QB.