Bruce Arians addresses if a rift with Tom Brady influenced his decision to retire
Bruce Arians continued the NFL's unpredictable offseason on Wednesday evening by announcing his decision to retire from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coaching job. The news wasn't shocking — Arians surprisingly retired from the Arizona Cardinals in 2017 — but it was certainly unexpected. With Tom Brady returning in 2022, Arians was seemingly gearing up […]
Bruce Arians continued the NFL's unpredictable offseason on Wednesday evening by announcing his decision to retire from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coaching job.
The news wasn't shocking — Arians surprisingly retired from the Arizona Cardinals in 2017 — but it was certainly unexpected.
With Tom Brady returning in 2022, Arians was seemingly gearing up for one last Super Bowl run in Tampa Bay.
Instead, it will be defensive coordinator Todd Bowles who will lead the Bucs in 2022.
Earlier this offseason, there were rumors flying around that Arians and Brady had some issues.
Arians has denied that those issues existed.
Still, when Arians announced his retirement, it was inevitable that questions would be asked about his rumored rift with Brady and if it had anything to do with his decision.
Arians shot down that idea in an interview with NBC Sports.
“No. Tom was very in favor of what I’m doing," said Arians. "I mean, I had conflicts with every player I coached because I cussed them all out, including him. Great relationship off the field.”
That statement won't dispel the rumors that there was a major rift with Brady — we'll probably never know the truth when it comes to that.
However, I believe Arians. What he's doing — retiring now so Bowles can get his shot as the Bucs' head coach while the franchise is in a good situation — is textbook Arians. He's always worried about his "guys" and wants to do right by them.
"I control the narrative right now," said Arians to NBCS Sports. "I don’t control it next February because [if] Brady gets hurt, we go 10-7, and it’s an open interview for the job … I got 31 [coaches and their] families that depend on me. My wife is big on not letting all those families down."
Good on Arians for putting others before himself in this decision. It would've been easy to stick around and try to win another Super Bowl with Brady. Instead, he's making sure 31 other coaches are in a good situation moving forward.
Featured image via USA TODAY
