TAMPA, Fla. — With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers having two more years of Tom Brady at the helm, they are sure to maximize every opportunity they can to chase more titles.
General Manager Jason Licht got an extension, head coach Bruce Arians got a raise, and Brady got his seventh championship plus his full arsenal of weapons back for another run. Even if Tampa Bay doesn't win another title during Brady's tenure, the risk was rewarded and the Bucs were crowned champions.
Though, that might not sit well with Brady who is always looking for his favorite Super Bowl ring−the next one. But what does Brady do when father time says enough is enough and it's time to hang up the cleats?
Some within the fan community are looking to Brady to follow exactly what former Bucs center A.Q. Shipley just did−transition from playing into coaching. Now as a member of Arians' staff in Tampa, Shipley is staying involved in the game he loves in a completely new role. With second-round pick Kyle Trask signing his rookie deal on Tuesday, many are hopeful that after his playing days are over, Brady will trade a helmet for a cap and a football for a clipboard to begin coaching the young former Gator.
It seems unlikely something like that will happen.
To mentor Trask, teaching him some of the various aspects of the NFL game is one thing−and one thing Brady will embrace doing. Coaching is a different matter entirely.
No one can play the game the way Brady has, just like no one can play the way Peyton Manning did. The way those guys used their brains, the cerebral approach to their craft and their game is not something you can duplicate let alone teach. For someone like Brady, he expects perfection. He can teach how to read pre-snap, he can teach how to expose guys in the secondary. He can't teach a player's brain how to process and operate, and that's what has made him the best quarterback to ever play the game.
For some of the greatest players of all time, their play doesn't translate to being a good coach no matter the sport. There's a reason guys like Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky didn't enter that realm. They went to front offices and owner's boxes. Could Tom Brady become the kind of person that one day jobs a franchise as team president or general manager? Sure, but it seems unlikely. If anything, Brady may enter the ownership game and run a franchise his way. I mean, he's got to do a better job than M.J, right?
For Tom Brady and the Bucs, once he's done playing, we aren't likely to see him joining Arians’, or by that point, maybe Bowles' or Leftwich's, staff as a quarterback coach or offensive coordinator. If anything, we'll see him and his family enjoying the fruits of his two-plus decades of labor, soaking in the sun on a beach.
Or, we might just see owner Tom Brady putting 53 players on the TB12 method and witness the healthiest team in history go 20-0.
For more on this story and for more on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, check out the Locked On Bucs Podcast.
What other people are reading right now:
►Breaking news and weather alerts: Get the free 10 Tampa Bay app
►Stay In the Know! Sign up now for the Brightside Blend Newsletter