Aaron Judge to the Buccaneers? MLB star reveals 2023 free agency plans
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ew York Yankees star outfielder and presumptive American League MVP Aaron Judge once played wide receiver and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just lost Rob Gronkowski this last offseason.
Judge is too big to play wide receiver anymore, but his pass catching skills could make him an elite tight end. The Buccaneers saw Gronkowski walk away and haven't quite filled that void.
Tom Brady spoke with Judge about his impending free agency, and the star outfielder joked about coming to Tampa Bay to catch passes.
On the Let's Go! with Larry Fitzgerald, Tom Brady and Jim Gray podcast, Judge mentioned playing two sports:
"Hey, well, we get a nice little split contract. You know, cause we could find a way to work this out. He'll just give me some looks in the redzone and I can go off and get some homers, you know, after that."
The Yankees star was joking, but the prospect of catching from Brady is something everyone has to consider:
"We'll figure something out, some some not nice. That's for sure. If Tom is tossing me, touchdown, you know, I'll play for free. This time you have to play for free."
The star outfielder is poised to potentially set contract records this offseason, but would consider lining up out wide to play tight end for free.
Could Aaron Judge play tight end?
Judge was a multi-sport athlete in high school and excelled in them. He obviously went the baseball route, but there's a real shot he could have made it in the NFL.
In his senior year of high school, the future Rookie of the Year put up 54 catches for 969 yards and 17 touchdowns in just 10 games. His junior year was a less productive but still solid 32 catches for 436 yards and four touchdowns.
Will the Buccaneers look elsewhere at tight end?
There were rumors that Gronkowski might consider exiting retirement to join the team once again, but that looks less likely with every passing week.
Cameron Brate and Kyle Rudolph are a decent tight end duo, but it wouldn't be wise not to look at any options.
Next year's free agent class is promising, with several good names potentially being available:
- Mike Gesicki
- Evan Engram
- Dalton Schultz,
- Austin Hooper
- Hayden Hurst
- Robert Tonyan
The options are there should the Buccaneers want to look for them.