Tom Brady announces that he will not return to the Patriots in 2020

With the NFL’s tampering period now open, teams can discuss signing Tom Brady. What happens now?

We now have some clarity on where Tom Brady will play football next season.

We know it will not be in New England.

The veteran quarterback took to social media on Tuesday morning and shocked the football world, with a post that indicated his “football journey will take place elsewhere.”

Brady followed that with a post directed at the Patriots’ fanbase:

If not the Patriots, where could Brady be playing in 2020?

It does seem to be down to two teams:

What pitch could these teams make to Brady? First up are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Rick Stroud from the Tampa Bay Times wrote last week that the franchise was “all in” on Brady. According to Stroud, “[w]hen you have a franchise winning percentage of .387, dreaming big is the best you can do.” And signing Brady is certainly big.

What can the Buccaneers use to woo Brady? As Stroud points out, a lot. They can pitch Brady on weapons. Come play with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, O.J. Howard, Cameron Brate, Ronald Jones and the players they can add in the draft. If it is money, the Buccaneers currently have more than $70 million available, pending on whether Shaquil Barrett plays on the franchise tag or the organization works out a new contract for him. They can sell Brady on eight home games in the Tampa Bay weather, and not the frosty environs of Foxborough. They can sell him on playing under Bruce Arians, a noted quarterback guru. They can also sell him on playing in a conference that is not inhabited by Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson, to name a few.

(Although there is that Brees guy he’d see twice a season).

So the Buccaneers can make quite the pitch. One might wonder about the fit of Brady in Arians’ downfield passing attack, but you can picture the coach tailoring his offense to what Brady does best in the twilight of his career.

What could the Chargers offer Brady? Well, a return to the west coast is one thing, with Brady growing up in California. The quarterback also announced the creation of a film company, named “199 Productions,” so moving to the Los Angeles area would give him proximity to the new business venture. The company is going to “develop original premium content including documentaries, feature films and television shows.”

The other aspects of the pitch might be tougher for the Chargers. They have cap space, currently north of $47 million according to OverTheCap.com. They also have some weapons, with Keenan Allen and the recently tagged Hunter Henry. But they also have a first-time offensive coordinator in Shane Steichen, and some questions up front on the offensive line. Then there is the possibility that the Chargers use that sixth-overall selection on their quarterback of the future, and not additional help for Brady.

Between the three, perhaps Tampa Bay can make the strongest case.

This was, perhaps, foreshadowed a few years ago by Brady’s father. The New England area tends to have a rather…difficult relationship with its aging stars, and if you want confirmation of that, just Google “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu.” That is a powerful bit of sports writing from the legendary John Updike, on Ted Williams’ final game with the Boston Red Sox. From Updike:

Greatness necessarily attracts debunkers, but in Williams’ case the hostility has been systematic and unappeasable. His basic offense against the fans has been to wish that they weren’t there. Seeking a perfectionist’s vacuum, he has quixotically desired to sever the game from the ground of paid spectatorship and publicity that supports it. Hence his refusal to tip his cap to the crowd or turn the other cheek to newsmen. It has been a costly theory–it has probably cost him, among other evidences of good will, two Most Valuable Player awards, which are voted on by reporters–but he has held to it from his rookie year on. While his critics, oral and literary, remained beyond the reach of his discipline, the opposing pitchers were accessible, and he spanked them to the tune of .406 in 1941. He slumped to .356 in 1942 and went off to war.

While not quite as eloquent, Tom Brady Sr. mirrored that language shortly before Super Bowl XLIX, telling Andrea Kramer this: “It will end badly. It does end badly. And I know that because I know what Tommy wants to do. He wants to play ’til he’s 70…It’s a cold business. And for as much as you want it to be familial, it isn’t.”

It may not have completely ended for Brady, but his time in Foxborough has. And now, the Hub fans are asked to bid another kid adieu.