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Buccaneers not closing door on Tom Brady return says defensive back

profilephotocropby:Suzanne Halliburton•07/14/23•

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tom brady
Mike Carlson/Getty Images

Maybe someone should tell Baker Mayfield that at least one current Buccaneers teammate thinks management still is calling Tom Brady to come back to Tampa Bay.

As most NFL fans know already, Tom Brady is enjoying life as a retiree. The 45-year-old quit football for a second time back in February. And unlike last year’s retirement/unretirement, Brady hasn’t made a move towards a football field. That is, unless you count a posh July 4th party at the Hamptons, when he got festive with some current NFL players, including Micah Parsons and Joe Burrow.

The latest Tom Brady unretirement chatter is coming from Tampa Bay defensive back Antoine Winfield Jr. The Bucs selected Winfield in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Winfield was around when Tom Brady won his seventh Super Bowl ring with a victory over Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

“I’m sure we’re still reaching out to him, trying to see if he’s trying to come back to the team,” Winfield said during an interview with Richard Sherman. “Hey, it could happen. Anything’s possible.”

Sherman observed: “Look, I don’t put nothing past (Brady). This is a crazy world and he a crazy guy.”

Winfield stuck with the story: “It’s up in the air, man.”

Tampa DB thinks there’s a chance Tom Brady returns to the team. He says the current QB competition between Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask is 50-50. (Elsa/Getty Images)

Tom Brady was hyping a football team, but not the Bucs

We’re not sure anything is possible in this case. The Bucs open training camp with a practice on July 27. That’s a countdown clock of less than two weeks. But let it be known Tom Brady is talking about football. But not the Bucs.

Rather, his last post on Instagram was about the Michigan Wolverines, his old team. Of course, Brady hasn’t worn the blue and maize since the 1999 season. But once a Michigan man, always a Michigan man.

After Brady retired, the Bucs signed Mayfield, the former top player in the draft who was with the Panthers and Rams in 2022. Tampa could go with Mayfield at QB or Kyle Trask, the Bucs’ second-round pick out of Florida in 2021.

Winfield told Sherman that the quarterback competition sans Brady is quite even.

“It’s really 50-50 between those two guys,” Winfield said.