NFL Rumors: Tom Brady called one Buccaneers teammate before announcing his decision to unretire
Tom Brady's decision to retire nearly cost his team until it didn't. While the entire NFL world was informed simultaneously, one teammate of Brady learned of the unretirement before anyone else. The No. 12 decided he was coming back and started to work before making his return official.
According to Jenna Laine of ESPN's SportsCenter, the quarterback informed Ryan Jensen via a phone call that he was returning. Thinking about testing free agency after the quarterback's retirement, the center made a quick about-face and signed with the Buccaneers, likely due to the quarterback's phone call.
He even gave the Buccaneers a good deal that was under market value. Laine said Jensen would have commanded $15 million on the open market. Instead, he signed for $13 million. The deal runs for three years, ending in 2024. Jensen will be 34 years old when it expires, according to Spotrac.
What other players will Tom Brady be calling?
Now that Brady has returned, he has plenty of other phone calls to make to other impending free agents. Leonard Fournette, Ndamukong Suh, Carlton Davis, Alex Cappa, and gronkowski" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-is-sponsored="false">Rob Gronkowski are already likely to mentally have one foot out the door. Brady's return will likely entice several players to return, but Gronkowski is expected to be the player the NFL world is watching with bated breath.
Is Rob Gronkowski coming back to Tampa Bay, too?
His mom, Diane texts me: "Rob loves it in Tampa and I would absolutely love it he if stays too. But that is his decision and I am not in the position to speak for him (even though I am his mom!!!)"
Gronkowski, a former retiree himself, was initially enticed out of retirement, in part, because of the quarterback. Now, with the tight end heading towards free agency, the quarterback, once again, needs to pull him back into the boat. Before news of the quarterback's return hit social media, the tight end was open about trying his first-team without his longtime teammate.
At one point, he was open to potentially joining Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals. The Denver Broncos appeared to be a decent destination for a brief moment as they had just lost their first-round pick, Noah Fant, in the trade to Seattle for Russell Wilson.
#Bucs free agents this week: C Ryan Jensen, CB Carlton Davis, G Alex Cappa, TE Rob Gronkowski, TE OJ Howard, RB Leonard Fournette, DT Ndamukong Suh, RB Ronald Jones, RB Gio Bernard, S Jordan Whitehead.
Tom Brady is now back. Might be time to push to get most of those guys back.
Now, with the quarterback unretiring, the odds of Gronkowski breaking out on his own seem small.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were proud to bring back every starter from Super Bowl LV, but duplicating the feat for the second year in a row will be challenging, primarily based on the roller coaster of the last several months. During that time, plenty of players had time to think through a new destination. Does the grass still seem greener for those players?