Tampa Bay Buccaneers considered 2 quarterbacks before Tom Brady's return
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers woke up Sunday morning with Blaine Gabbert as their starting quarterback and they ended the day with Tom Brady back under center. No offense to Gabbert, but that's like going from a Ford Pinto to a McLaren. Of course, there was no guarantee that Tampa would've entered the 2022 season with […]
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers woke up Sunday morning with Blaine Gabbert as their starting quarterback and they ended the day with Tom Brady back under center.
No offense to Gabbert, but that's like going from a Ford Pinto to a McLaren.
Of course, there was no guarantee that Tampa would've entered the 2022 season with Gabbert as their starting quarterback had Brady not returned.
In fact, the Buccaneers were doing their due diligence on quarterbacks before Brady announced his return.
According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the Buccaneers looked into trading for Russell Wilson before he was traded from the Seattle Seahawks to the Denver Broncos. They were also interested in trading for Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson.
But according to Rapoport, the Bucs could never pull the trigger on a trade for a quarterback because they knew Brady returning was a possibility.
That's quite a gamble. The Buccaneers have a good roster. And if they would've waited on Brady only for Brady to stay retired, they could've missed an opportunity to land a stud quarterback like Wilson or Watson. And that good roster would've gone to waste.
Ultimately, though, the gamble paid off. The Bucs are better off with Brady than they would've been with Wilson or Watson.
And it kept the franchise out of a potentially tough situation. If they had made a trade for a quarterback and then suddenly Brady wanted to return, that would've been tough for the Bucs to navigate.
Fortunately for Tampa Bay, none of that matters now. They got their guy and their guy happens to be the best quarterback of all time.
Featured image via Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
