Interesting tidbit on Buccaneers' Tom Brady signing revealed

A new article revealed something interesting about Tom Brady's free agency journey that led him to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady takes the field before a wild card game against the Dallas Cowboys. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Tom Brady's arrival in Tampa Bay to play for the Buccaneers could be defined as a franchise-changing moment. The Bucs' trajectory as a franchise has changed ever since, as they won a Super Bowl with Brady and then, since 2021, haven't lost the NFC South.

General manager Jason Licht was instrumental in bringing Brady to the Bucs after he parted ways with the New England Patriots, of course, but he'd be the first to tell you that the staff around him is one of the things he prides himself on as an NFL GM. And a new story from The Athletic's Dan Pompei opened up a new perspective on what it took to get Tom Brady to Tampa Bay — and one man who was a big part of making that happen.

John Spytek currently serves as the general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders, but before that, he was Licht's left-hand man as the Bucs' Director of Player Personnel. Pompei wrote that while the Buccaneers were initially intending on re-signing quarterback Jameis Winston, Spytek was interested in other quarterbacks like Teddy Bridgewater, Drew Brees and Philip Rivers, among others.

He eventually watched tape on Tom Brady, who he played with in college as a member of the Michigan Wolverines, and it wasn't long after that Spytek and Licht went on a covert operation to sign him that they called "Operation Shoeless Joe", a nod to the famed baseball movie Field of Dreams.

There are a few interesting tidbits from Pompei, but one notable one sticks out — per his article, Brady may have agreed to play for the Buccaneers while he was still a member of the New England Patriots:

"Operation Shoeless Joe worked, and Brady told the Bucs he intended to play for them. But he still hadn’t officially parted ways with the Patriots. He told Licht he would visit Patriots owner Robert Kraft one evening to convey his intentions in person. The Bucs feared Kraft would convince him to stay," Pompei wrote.

"Early the next morning, Spytek was stuck at a traffic light on his way to work. He picked up his phone. The first story on his Instagram feed was from Brady, thanking New England and saying he was going to take his football journey elsewhere. By the end of the day, he was a Buccaneer."

That didn't happen, though, and Brady eventually signed with the Buccaneers. The rest is history, but the way this was worded is quite interesting — it seems to imply that Brady had the Buccaneers picked out before he officially hit free agency, which would go against Brady's own recounting that he had a list of teams he was considering after he left the Patriots.

After his legendary tenure in Tampa Bay, Brady, a minority owner of the Raiders, returned the favor and helped bring Spytek to Las Vegas to be its general manager. So in the end, it all worked out for both parties.

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READ MORE: ESPN expert names Buccaneers rookie his favorite pick of NFL Draft

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