Bruce Arians has repeatedly denied that his relationship with Tom Brady was anything less than stellar over the past two seasons, but there have been numerous reports that there were issues. One of the latest shed some light on why the star quarterback was not thrilled with his head coach.
The Miami Dolphins had a huge plan in the works a few months ago for Brady to become a minority owner of the team and join the front office. They were also going to try to acquire Brady’s player rights from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers so he could play quarterback in Miami. The final part of the grand plan would have been to hire Sean Payton as head coach. Word of the plan first leaked through Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk in late February.
The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin was told by sources last week that Brady was on board with the plan and it is the reason he retired. Everything fell apart after Brian Flores filed his discrimination lawsuit against the NFL.
A third reporter, Dave Hyde of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, confirmed on Monday that the Dolphins had plans to bring Brady and Payton to Miami. According to Hyde, Brady’s relationship with Arians was a factor in the seven-time Super Bowl champion wanting to leave the Bucs. More specifically, Brady was frustrated with the way Arians prepared for games.
“Brady, as in New England, showed up each Tuesday morning with a game plan for the following Sunday, a source said. He expected coaches to do the same,” Hyde wrote. “Arians, busy with other work, wasn’t ready at that early point in a work week to complete a full game plan. It became representative of small-ish but significant problems between them.”
That sounds similar to what former NFL offensive lineman Rich Ohrnberger said back in February. Ohrnberger, who is close friends and ex-teammates with Bucs offensive assistant A.Q. Shipley, said Brady and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich spent a lot of time working on gameplans together while Arians was recovering from Achilles surgery. Brady and Leftwich supposedly felt undermined when Arians would show up later in the week and “take the red pen to work they’d done.”
Arians can deny all we wants that there was a rift between him and Brady, but the reports seem to line up. It makes sense that Brady would have decided to return to the Bucs only after the Dolphins plan fell through. Once he made that choice, he probably preferred to play for someone other than Arians.
Photo: Sep 9, 2021; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady (12) reacts after defeating the Dallas Cowboys at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Reper-USA TODAY Sports
