Tom Brady makes his pitch for Aaron Judge to join the Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are roughly a quarter of the way through the 2022 season. Injuries hit the team hard through the first few weeks but the Buccaneers have gotten a few players back recently such as Chris Godwin, Russell Gage, and Donovan Smith.
One area of the offense that is still finding its stride is the tight end room. Veteran Cam Brate has only recorded 11 catches for 100 yards. Brate missed last week with a concussion, in his absence, rookie Cade Otton pulled down six of his seven targets for 43 yards.
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It's clear that the somewhat unexpected loss of star tight end Rob Gronkowski to retirement has effectively limited a position that quarterback Tom Brady used to rely on in crucial scenarios.
Brady is working his connections to beef up the unit ahead of what's expected to be a long postseason run for the Buccaneers.
On Monday, the future Hall of Famer hosted New York Yankees star Aaron Judge for the latest episode of his "Let's Go!" podcast. Before letting him go, Brady gave his pitch for the baseball star to strap on the shoulder pads.
“Obviously, having such an incredible year and, you know, now on the brink of [baseball] free agency, I was certainly wondering what it would take to get you down here in Tampa to be a tight end for us next year,” Brady told Judge. “So as a free agent, it looked pretty good to me the way he runs, the size, the catch radius, the power. I mean, this could be something that we could be on to. I know you were a great high school player. Obviously, baseball turned out pretty well for you but I don't know, maybe this dual-sport athlete is something we'll have to look into."
Judge joked that he thinks the two can work something out as long as Brady throws him some passes in the red zone. He even mentioned that he'll play for free so the Buccaneers and Rays might want to start collaborating.
“We could get a nice little split contract. We can find a way to work this out," Judge said. "You just give me some looks in the red zone, then I can go off and hit some homers after that. We'll figure something out nice that's for sure."
"If Tom's tossing me touchdowns, I'll play for free," Judge continued. "Sign me up to play for free, that's it."
The last thing Judge is going to have to do is play for free after hitting a ridiculous 62 home runs in 2022 along with a career-high .311 batting average. His next contract is projected to bring in $35+ million annually and $300+ million in total.
The New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians face off on Thursday night in game two of the ALDS. The Yankees lead the series 1-0.
Stick with BucsGameday for more coverage on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throughout the season.
