Tom Brady took a huge step when he got out of his retirement to play for the Buccaneers of Tampa Bay. The Super Bowl champion of the time announced that he would retire the sport in February 2022 to withdraw his statement the following month to announce that he would play for the Buccaneers for his 23rd season in the NFL.
Last year, while commenting on the game of Philadelphia Eagles-Buccaneers for Fox, he shared that there was several factors This led to his decision.
“There were a lot of reasons to choose Tampa and I made 18 criteria,” said Brady at the time. “There were things of the salary, obviously, in time, to the facilities, to the greatness of the players.”
Brady also made a great revelation when he shared that he “considered seriously” to join another NFC team.
“Chicago was a team, and I never told this story before, they were very furtive in their recruitment,” said Brady. “I seriously considered them. But, in the end, it happened to Tampa. ”
While why Brady chose Buccaneers makes sense, a recent story published by athletics explains the unique way in which the organization convinced the quarter to join the team.
After John Spytek shared his astonishment of Brady’s talent after studying the bands of old quarters such as Drew Brees, Teddy Bridgewater and Philip Rivers, he went to Jason Licht with an idea. However, while Licht respected Brady, he could not wrap his head in the idea that Brady would leave New England and become a BUC.
However, after a few days of reflection on Licht and Bruce Arians, he was worth trying to involve Brady on board even if they had the impression that they had no chance. According to the publication, it was at this moment that “Licht, Arians, Spytek, Rob McCartney, who was the director of Pro Scouting at the time, Mike Biehl, director of university scouting, and Mike Greenberg, who managed contracts” decided to offer a plan to make Brady a Buc. At the time, only the six knew what they were trying to accomplish and it was then that the 1989 dream film came into play.
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“If you build it,” said Spytek, taking advantage of their list. “He will come.”
“It comes from a film,” said Licht, referring to Field of Dreams.
After Spytek declared the line, they decided to call the plan “Operation Sholess Joe” after the character of Sho school Joe Jackson in the film. They also called Brady “Sho school Joe” whenever the team spoke
Brady was not the only person in “Operation Sholace Joe” to have had a nickname. Licht won the title of “Ray Kinsella” which is played by Kevin Costner in the film. The character of Costner was the one who built the baseball field that prompted Shoeless Joe to go out. While the owner of Bucs, Joel Glazer, was not one of the six who helped to develop the plan he was called the character “Terrance Mann” which was described by James Earl Jones. This character disappeared with Sho schoolss Joe in the cornfield.
In the end, the operation worked. Brady told Bucs he would play for them, which would end his stay in New England. Spytek told the point of sale that he had won his phone on the way to work and then saw that Brady had made the official announcement that he would be a Buccaneer. Later in the day, the organization made him official.
Brady was going to win a super bowl – his seventh and the second franchise – before officially leaving the NFL for good in 2023.
