Why Hasn't Tom Brady Signed with the Bucs Yet?

The news started to circulate throughout the day on Tuesday that Tom Brady would indeed be signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But as 4pm ET Wednesday came and went, the kickoff of the new NFL league year and the opening of free agency, there was silence from both Brady and the Bucs.

It's Thursday morning, and we've still yet to get any kind of announcement from either side confirming this deal.

So, what's holding things up? Basically, the same thing that's holding up the entire world right now: the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Due the the global health emergency, the NFL announced new rules governing free agency procedures, and those new regulations are preventing teams from taking some of the normal steps in the process of signing and announcing their new additions:

One issue for the #Bucs and Tom Brady — same issue most FAs are having — teams can’t send a private plane to pick him up & take him to the facility. Or off-site. It’s not allowed. And they can’t travel to see him. So getting a physical with a doctor everyone agrees on is tricky.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 19, 2020

These new league rules also won't allow the Bucs to fly Brady to the team facility on their private plane, or anywhere else, in order to sign his contract. The regulations also state that teams can't announce new signings if a contract hasn't been executed, and with the challenges present in getting players to take physicals, that would normally leave teams to simply announce that they've "agreed to terms" with a player. But the league isn't allowing that, either.

The delay is likely causing some Bucs fans to grow nervous that Brady signing with the Bucs may never actually happen, and that it will indeed end up being just another dream that got dashed at the last second. I don't foresee that, but it's hard to blame cynical Bucs fans for doubting until the deal is officially done and announced.

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