Bruce Arians plans to coach beyond Tom Brady’s potential retirement

Bruce Arians has retired once as an NFL head coach. It doesn’t sound like he’s ready to do it again anytime soon.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach dismissed the notion that his future is tied to quarterback Tom Brady’s, suggesting that he intends to coach for the duration of his current five-year contract and possibly beyond.

“Oh yeah, that’s the plan. I don’t have any plans on retiring,” Arians told The Pewter Report podcast. “It’s just, when do I not want to go back to work? When I’m not excited about going back to work then I’m cheating somebody. I’m cheating the Glazer family, I’m cheating my players. Right now I can’t wait to get back to work. I don’t know when that’s going to happen, but no, I’m not tied to any players.”

Arians added that a potential Brady retirement wouldn’t necessarily lead him to follow suit, as he enjoys working with young quarterbacks as well.

“I could get extremely excited about having another young quarterback and going to war with one,” Arians added. “I’ll be honest with you. I’d be excited to take Blaine Gabbert to war because I love Blaine Gabbert. I think he is the most underrated player in the NFL. So yeah, when its not fun, then it will be time.”

Arians’ stance makes sense. He joined the Buccaneers with Jameis Winston as quarterback, long before Brady was even a pipe dream for the organization. Plus, the Buccaneers appear to have a new young quarterback that he likes a lot.

The 68-year-old Arians appears to be in good health. He has a contract through 2023, and it sounds like he won’t be departing before then.