Was Tom Brady actually angling for a gig with a different NFC South destination when he hit free agency two years ago?
It appears so.
Brady, after parting ways with the New England Patriots in March 2020, fairly quickly signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who he led to a Super Bowl title in his first season. After a brief retirement this winter, Brady is back in Tampa – but not without a ton of rumors and whispers that he had eyes on teaming up with Sean Payton on the Miami Dolphins.
Jeff Darlington has seldom missed on any Brady scoops the last few years, and he shared on 560 Sports’ “The Joe Rose Show with Zach Krantz” that Brady seriously almost went to the Saints in 2020.
“Do I believe that Tom Brady will eventually have a role within the Dolphins organization? I sort of do," Darlington said Tuesday. "But does that mean – were Sean and Tom thinking and considering the possibility of doing something where he’s playing and Sean is coaching? Yeah, sure. Things get talked about in this industry all the time, and it is fun to play revisionist history. But guess what? Tom Brady was so close to joining the Saints.
“If Drew Brees had decided not to come back for that final year and say, for instance, go to the Monday Night Football booth instead of coming back for another season, Tom Brady would’ve played for the Saints. And Sean Payton would probably still be there. And we could talk about that ad nauseum too, but it didn’t happen.”
Darlington’s comments came as he addressed the lacking nuance in any of the Brady-Dolphins rumors, such as the fact that it’s a salary cap violation to be an owner of a team and also play for it.
Either way, Brady is under contract with the Bucs this season and they’ve made clear they don’t plan to trade him. But he’ll be a free agent next offseason, and will be able at that point to join the Dolphins if he so chooses.
Or who knows, maybe he’ll go to New Orleans, instead.
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