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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were already doing the difficult task of planning their next possible steps after Tom Brady retired last February. Fortunately, the NFL icon had a change of heart and decided to return, so one can only imagine the delight of GM Jason Licht and the rest of the team.
Licht admitted they were holding out hope that Brady will do a U-turn on his decision, but he did point out that thy were already having conversations on what they should do next if the quarterback decided to stay retired. When TB12 made his decision to return, though, the Buccaneers GM said they had a “sense of relief.”
“Well, in this business you have to be ready to expect the unexpected, but you also have to have plans either way. There was nothing I could do about it at that point. We had a lot of faith in thinking that he might change his mind, that he might come back, but we had to have plans either way,” Licht explained, per FOX Sports.
Jason Licht also provided some behind-the-scenes on what happened before and during Tom Brady's unretirement announcement. Apparently, they were already sensing the decision, although there was no confirmation. Later on, though, Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians was made aware that the TB12 camp was going to release a statement.
“Now when he decided that he was going to un-retire, we had several conversations–myself and Bruce [Arians] were a major part of that. There was a sense that it could happen but didn’t have any definites until later on, probably around the same time Chris [Godwin] heard [and] got his text message. I had talked to him, and Bruce knew he was going to put a statement out. That was a great day, just like today is a great day,” Licht furthered.
Brady announced his return to the Buccaneers earlier this March, taking to social media his decision. He was retired just for 40 days, pointing out in his announcement that he realized during his time away that his place is still and “not in the stands.” He also highlighted some unfinished business he wants to accomplish before really calling it a career.
A lot has been said about Brady's move to come back to the NFL and re-join the Buccaneers. For one, his father said he was “pressured by outside forces” to initially retire, while a former teammate theorized that “something happened” during his retirement period that forced him to come back–probably something that Brady didn't expect when it comes to his initial plans.
Whatever the reason might be, the Buccaneers front office and their fans will simply be happy to have Brady on their side again. He remains one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL even at age 44, and his impact on winning is second to none. There's a reason the Bucs won the Super Bowl in his first year with the team.
The Buccaneers are also able to prevent the daunting task of finding a replacement for him, a job which could be pretty hard given how great Tom is. There's just no replacing a player of his caliber. Now, the team can focus on building the squad once again and adding more weapons for another run at the Super Bowl with Brady at the helm.
