Former Dolphins player blames Tom Brady for setting a bad example in the league
Tom Brady was the main topic on "The Pivot Podcast" last week and one of the hosts called out the quarterback for setting a poor example in the NFL.
Channing Crowder, a former Miami Dolphins linebacker from the late 2000s, got the ball rolling with his co-hosts Fred Taylor and Ryan Clark. His hot take on Tom Brady was that he started the trend of quarterbacks and other players "controlling their own narratives".
Crowder stated that Tom Brady's situation in New England is the cause behind everything. He said there was no debate that Brady was the "GOAT" as he was there before all three of Crowder, Taylor and Clark were in the league. Brady has also remained an active starter long after the trio retired from the NFL.
It was the act of leaving the New England Patriots after two decades of taking pay cuts that led to Brady "controlling his narrative," according to Crowder.
He described the current NFL as being similar to the NBA, where star players virtually dictate where they play and what their worth is in the league. Brady did so when he left the Patriots for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and signed one of the largest contracts of his career.
Since then, there have been many quarterbacks on the move. Matt Ryan, Russell Wilson, Matthew Stafford, Deshaun Watson, and Davante Adams are just a few of the recent superstars to follow Tom Brady's path. They have all left behind their former teams for better contenders and more money.
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Crowder, who played all six seasons of his career with the Miami Dolphins, used his co-hosts as examples as well. Fred Taylor spent more than a decade with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Clark spent the majority of his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Clark won a Super Bowl with the Steelers, but Taylor was on one of the worst teams in the NFL for a long time.
Crowder pointed out that Taylor would not last that long with the Jaguars in today's NFL on a losing team. Superstars on losing teams are now doing everything in their power to get traded to a contender or released from their contracts to become free agents.
Can you really blame Tom Brady, though? Fred Taylor believes Brady left the Patriots more to "get away from Bill Belichick" and prove himself outside of that setting. Brady possibly also saw the walls start to crumble in the castle and got out before the situation took a turn for the worse.
After all, the Buccaneers did have better weapons than the Patriots did at the time.
But you can't argue that players are in fact starting to turn the NFL into the NBA with "super teams". Teams like the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars may never get out of the basement if their top players decide to play for contenders as soon as they become popular talents.
Who else will join Tom Brady's "SuperTeam" in Tampa Bay?
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have reloaded their roster since Tom Brady came out of retirement. They have added Russell Gage, Shaq Mason and Logan Ryan in the off-season, but there could be another addition or two before the start of the season.
Rob Gronkowski's status remains up in the air, but another former Patriot could join the ranks. Julian Edelman has had recent rumors spread about a potential return to the NFL and the Buccaneers were one of the teams named as a potential destination.
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Without Antonio Brown, Tampa Bay lacks solid depth at the receiver position. Edelman remains close with Tom Brady and could serve in a rotational role like Brown did last year.