By this point, everyone's probably sick of hearing how the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Bruce Arians made one of the biggest free agency moves of all-time when they signed Tom Brady.
The quarterback might not be in his prime anymore, but he's still widely regarded as the greatest of all-time. And that's got to count for something.
However, Brady is not the same quarterback he was a few years ago. This certainly isn't prime New England Patriots Brady. Can he be though?
Maybe with the right offense and the right coach, he could be. Is that right coach Bruce Arians?
Here is the reason why Tampa Bay's Bruce Arians is the perfect coach for Brady at this point in his career.
Okay, let's be honest. The first argument anyone is going to make will be Bill Belichick. He has been Brady's coach for his entire career. And due to that, some people have wondered if Brady is more or less a “system” quarterback.
Truthfully, I think that's ridiculous. Brady has been one of the best quarterbacks in football basically his entire career. You don't do the things he's done simply because of a system.
That being said, there are some ways you can help a quarterback. Especially a quarterback who will be 43 at the start of the new season, coming off his worst campaign in years.
One way, is weapons. And the Buccaneers have them. Bruce Arians is in position to thrive.
Mike Evans is one of the best wide receivers in football. He's going to get a lot more love now that he has Brady. Don't get me wrong, people have recognized his greatness for years, but some have overlooked him. Those days are gone.
Chris Godwin has also turned himself into a star. Pairing him with Brady should only make things even better.
That duo right there is enough to get people excited about Brady in 2020. But add in the potential that O.J. Howard has and the reliability of Cameron Brate as the tight ends and you've really got something cooking for Bruce Arians.
The other way to get the best out of Brady is coaching and system. And while Belichick's ideas were clearly working, it's Bruce Arians that will get the most out of Brady.
The reason for that is simple, he won't hold back.
Look, let's not pretend like Belichick is bashful when it comes to football. He's going to make bold decisions, and they tend to work out for him. Hence all that winning he does.
You could make an argument that he's gotten a little more protective of Brady recently though. By that, I mean with the play calling.
The short throws seemed to be at an all-time high the last two years, specifically 2019. Bruce Arians has noticed this.
You could argue that was due to the lack of weapons, but Brady's proven he can do a lot with a little in the past, so why stop now?
Bruce Arians is not going to do that. He's going to utilize his weapons and let Brady air it out. What's the point of having Evans if he isn't “Mossing” people 25-plus yards down the field?
Brady might not exactly have the arm he had a couple of seasons ago, but he can still hit the deep ball. And with the new weapons he has under Bruce Arians, maybe he'll connect on them better than he has in a very long time.
Bruce Arians is not going to play it safe. He's known as a very smart offensive mind. So he's going to devise plays that not only work to Brady's strengths, but keeps the offense from becoming predictable.
That means we'll still see Brady getting some of those easier completions, but throwing deep as well.
And with his accuracy (never thrown 15 interceptions in a season and just one season of 10-plus interceptions in the last six seasons) Brady should thrive under Bruce Arians. He'll hit on the big plays a lot more than he makes costly mistakes.
And due to that, we could see another 30-plus touchdown season from the quarterback. Maybe he'll even flirt with 5,000 yards.
Who knows exactly what we'll see. But we do know that Bruce Arians is going to go all out to get the absolute most out of Brady.
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