Jason Licht Says Tom Brady Did Most Of The Pitching When Talking To Buccaneers
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- When the free agency doors finally opened, some folks expected a rush of teams to come calling for Tom Brady to make their pitches. As it turned out, the greatest of all time was the one who ended up doing the pitching.
That's at least part of the story from Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht, who said on ESPN on Monday that when he finally spoke to Brady on the Wednesday that free agency began, it was Brady who did much of the talking.
"We had a great conversation -- Bruce and I -- we talked to him for over an hour and a half," Licht said. "And he made it clear in the conversation that he was very, very interested. It was almost like a recruitment on his part, telling us why it would make sense for him to come to Tampa Bay."
Licht added: "The next call we made, we signed him, but it was at that phone call that we realized, that we felt like, you know, we had him."
Licht's comments are interesting, considering both Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport reported the night before that phone call took place that Brady was likely going with the Buccaneers. Rapoport went so far to say that Brady and the Bucs had an agreement in principle.
A week prior, a Tampa Bay Times report said that the Bucs were "all in" on Tom Brady. Prior to that, Tampa head coach Bruce Arians ignored every tampering rule in the book by stating on the record multiple times that he'd love to have Brady be his quarterback.
At the same time, a report just before the opening of the legal tampering period said that Brady's only options were New England and Tampa Bay. That would likely explain Brady's enthusiasm when finally getting the chance to speak directly to Licht and Arians.
So, the idea that the Bucs weren't sold on Brady until Brady pitched himself to the franchise on the day that free agency actually opened is a bit difficult to take at face value. Nevertheless, that's the one that Licht was telling on Monday.
