Tom Brady is leaving the Patriots, and is expected to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Any team that wants a crack at the legendary quarterback better be sure to consider his needs. Brady, 42, is asking for a few things that no other free agent has ever really asked for. According to Dianna Russini of ESPN, Brady has two big “wants” that he’ll be looking for in his new team.
“Some of the things Brady wants: Control over roster [and] he wants to be part of making decisions on the play calling,” Russini said this week on ESPN’s “Get Up.”
Apparently, any team that wants to sign Brady (presumably the Bucs) the quarterback is also going to have to agree to take on Brady the general manager. A player asking for any type of control over the roster is absolutely unheard of, but in Brady’s case, it actually makes a little bit of sense. Brady knows he only has one or two seasons left, and you can bet that he doesn’t want to waste away on a team that mismanages its roster. By demanding some roster control, Brady can push his new team to go out and acquire players who can help them win.
For instance, if Brady signs with the Buccaneers and thought they needed offensive line help to win, he could use his new roster control power to implore the team to sign or draft an offensive lineman. From a general manager’s perspective, if Brady’s decision to bring in a lineman doesn’t work out, you basically have plausible deniability with the team’s ownership, “Hey, Brady’s plan didn’t work out, but he’s now retired, so let’s go back to my plan.”….
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