Tom Brady’s decision continues to loom over NFL free agency

Tom Brady, two days away from becoming a free agent, still hasn’t given any indication of where he plans to play in 2020.

NFL teams were busy doling out big-money contracts to free agents on Monday, but conspicuously missing was any indication of where Tom Brady will play in 2020.

The six-time Super Bowl champion quarterback becomes a free agent on Wednesday and will be able to sign with any team. The thought he would actually leave the New England Patriots, the only team he’s played for in his 20-year career, has dominated NFL headlines this offseason.

But Monday’s signings brought no clear answer to the question: will he or won’t he?

Brady has every reason to pick a new home in the waning years of his career and chase a seventh ring. The Patriots offense was inept at times last season, providing Brady with no dangerous weapons. His play suffered for it.

Brady threw for only 24 touchdowns, his fewest since 2006, and had his lowest passer rating since 2013. He was 26th in the league in completion percentage, behind rookie Daniel Jones and undrafted second-year quarterback Kyle Allen. And he was 18th in rating, behind the likes of Gardner Minshew and Case Keenum.

New England failed to get out of the Wild Card round for the first time in a decade, falling to the Tennessee Titans at home in Foxborough. And they don’t have much hope of finding Brady weapons, with only one pick in the first 80 selections in April’s draft.

So when he was spotted face-timing with former teammate and now Titans head coach Mike Vrabel while attending a Syracuse basketball game, it sparked rumors that he was considering going to Tennessee. But then the Titans re-signed Ryan Tannehill to a $118 million deal on Sunday. The San Francisco 49ers, Brady’s boyhood team, also took themselves out of the Brady sweepstakes and will stick with his former protege, Jimmy Garoppolo.

That leaves Brady with a dwindling number of options if he indeed is looking to leave New England. One team that is reportedly desperate to sign him, though, is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Buccaneers have everything Brady is looking for in a suitor: two 1,000-yard wide receivers in Chris Godwin and the 6-foot-5 Mike Evans, neither of whom will be older than 27 at the start of next season. And they have tight end O.J. Howard.

Brady flourished while throwing to a big tight end in Rob Gronkowski with the Patriots. But when Gronkowski retired following the Patriots’ Super Bowl LIII victory, the team never replaced him. Ben Watson led New England tight ends with 173 receiving yards in 2019, 48th in the NFL. Howard is the type of weapon Brady lacked a season ago.

The Buccaneers also have an innovative head coach in Bruce Arians, a two-time NFL Coach of the Year. Arians has led a top-10 offense in three of his last four seasons as a head coach. He even got a 5,000-yard season out of Jameis Winston and reached the NFC Championship Game with Carson Palmer in Arizona.

What could he do with Brady at quarterback? The Buccaneers want to find out.

Tampa Bay placed the franchise tag on defensive lineman Shaquil Barrett on Sunday, all but ensuring that Winston will leave in free agency. But the Buccaneers are still lacking in something Brady has plenty of, playoff experience. They haven’t made the postseason since 2007 and compete in the same division as Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints.

If these prove obstacles too great to overcome for Brady to sign there, he can consider the Los Angeles Chargers, who parted ways with Philip Rivers this offseason. Or he could return to New England and finish his career where it started.

Monday, the first day that teams could legally negotiate with free agents, was a time for teams to lay the foundation for next season and beyond. But before Brady decides where he’ll play in 2020, free agency will feel like it hasn’t even begun.