Buccaneers Legend Tom Brady Reveals NFL Team He'll Never Cheer For
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers got three years with Tom Brady leading the team to one Super Bowl win and two more playoff appearances.
Even if the final season didn't go as grand as anyone involved with the Buccaneers hoped, there's no doubt that in such a short period he was incredibly impactful for the franchise.
Of course, it never would have happened had one team not done the rest of the NFL a favor and passed on him...six times.
"They passed me up [in the 2000 NFL Draft], so f--- them and that whole staff that kept me out," Brady said on his "Let's Go" podcast recently when talking about the San Francisco 49ers. "I had a chip on my shoulder for a long time."
In the discussion, Brady said the reasons quoted above are why he'll never cheer for the franchise he grew up in love with, idolizing quarterback Joe Montana as a result.
Of course, as you might imagine, it was done so tongue-in-cheek. But in all seriousness, had the 49ers who were led by coach Steve Mariucci at the time pulled the hometown kid into the franchise Tampa Bay may have never gotten its chance to ride with the legend.
Instead, San Francisco drafted Hofstra's Giovanni Carmazzi in the third round of the 2000 NFL Draft. Carmazzi never took a regular-season snap in the league and eventually landed with the Rhein Fire - then a part of NFL Europe - before playing in Canada and eventually becoming a "yoga-exercising farmer", according to The U.S. Sun.
Had Mariucci - who had Brady in for a private workout ahead of the draft - had taken the local kid instead he'd possibly be considered one of the greatest coaches of all time with a legendary quarterback who got to go home and never left.
Of course, there's no way to know for sure what would have happened on that alternate timeline, so Brady, the New England Patriots, and the Bucs will all have to just be happy with sports immortality, championships, and near-annual playoff appearances.
Mariucci lasted three more years with the organization after passing up Brady and the 49ers haven't won a single Super Bowl. Perhaps if San Francisco staff lose four more then the quarterback they could have had will finally forgive them and lift the curse.
