turn the page to Bruce Arians
big news a week ago.
We spent Thursday show talking about his abrupt and sudden and
surprising decision to retire, resign. Whatever word you want
to apply to it as head. Coach at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He
was on norio. You
can write whatever you want. You can write whatever you love
L'Oreal for its yesterday,
talking about a variety of things here. He is talking
about the timing
of his return. Retirement and his relationship
with hashtag Tommy, Tom Brady.
I was waiting for Tom and see what he was going to do. And
once decided, he came back and
it was a no-brainer
Todd's in a great shape to organizations in a great shape.
Probably wouldn't have done. It had tied knot on retired,
Diamond. Retired. Were you were you shocked at all? That Tom?
Brady did, come back. Or was it gives you? So you kind of
waiting was that, was it a possibility? Odie. I mean,
that's a lot kind of hanging on that.
Yeah, there was always a possibility. We're going to
wait till the last minute, and we were making plans in case he
did. And
he but thank goodness. He did
the whole riff that supposedly existed between you and Tom.
Brady, was that for real?
No, not at all. Well, I mean, you know, me
because I'm all out and
we have a great relationship, we take Golf and,
you know, Tom's fantastic. And I enjoy being around him and
look forward to the future and watching him. Continue to play.
Great. Todd, run the
run the ship,
you know, it's like pulling a string on a doll with Bruce.
Arians when this topic comes up, I cut them all out and we
play golf that doesn't address the deeper issue. The deeper
issue is
Bruce, Arians was semi if not mostly retired.
Bruce Arians was out of the picture
Byron Leftwich and Tom Brady were cranking every week on
the offense and this idea that Aaron's would show up and start
tinkering. Ring with things late in the game and
frustrating left, which in Brady, that's where
the friction came from. And also this idea that
it,
you know, maybe not running the tides chip in Tampa Bay,
contrasting, how hard
Bill Belichick worked with how hard Bruce Arians doesn't work.
And remember the Sean Payton and one thing
I learned this week. Not that we had any doubts about it, but
sometimes, when you're having conversations about Other
things you trip over even more information that causes you to
be even more convinced about things. You've previously said.
Yeah, folks,
the Sean Payton, Tom Brady.
Yeah, that's showing up together in Miami, right? Was
as real as it could have been. It was
happening. I said this last night on PFT p.m. Super Bowl
week, you know, we're going to find out, we're going to find
out the Tom Brady was now a minority owner of the Miami
Dolphins
that didn't happen, the bribe Flores lawsuit,
which was filed this
Same day, the Tom Brady retired that lawsuit the allegations in
it and its implications kept this from happening in Miami.
It was going to be Tom. Brady, becoming a minority owner of
the Dolphins Super Bowl week. Sean Payton, becoming the head
coach of the dolphins. Not long thereafter in a trade, that
probably would have said a first round pick
from the Dolphins to the Saints
and then later
in the spring
Tom Brady on retiring and being traded by the Buccaneers to
the Dolphins. Yeah. That was real. I'll definitely that was
happening.
Now. Why do you think
Tom Brady wanted to go
that route? What I mean?
You know, I if everything was perfectly fine in Tampa Bay, if
he believed that, they had a clear shot to another Super
Bowl win, and he had no frustrations about the way
things were being done there.
Why would he have entertained going
back to the AFC back to the AFC East?
With a team that hasn't been to the playoffs in several years.
And yes, they've, they're showing that they have
something,
but it's not nearly as stacked as the Buccaneers are. And it's
in a much tougher spot than the Buccaneers are in. It
definitely is. Yeah, it's done
a little, you know, it's got the unproven commodity aspect
of it. But I know again. Connecting dots reading between
the tea leaves, all of that.
Yes, I would think that's part of the play.
Hey, people could say
all they want and all that
you talk to whoever they want in the NFL.
All right, everybody knows that there was a little bit of
an issue with the dynamic you're talking about left foot. You
and Brady doing the offense of stuff and Bruce Arians getting
involved.
That's it's a known thing. I do you talk to anybody
so it's not like Mike and I are sitting here trying to
cause a problem or you know, stir the pot here a little bit.
These are very common Inside the NFL talk rumors. Not, you
know, I don't want to say they're really Worse, things.
That that's real talk. So there obviously was something there.
There's no question.
And Sean Payton is more along the lines of Bill Belichick to
your point. Hey, it is Miami. We know Brady's building
the house down there. It seems like they want to go that route.
You've talked about, it is closer to Costa Rica, Brazil,
everything like that make sense,
certainly does. And then you at tie in the football stuff too.
And yeah, I think that's real.
Now what I still am going to sit here and because like
I love Bruce Arians. You know that
I do. I'm a big fan of his.
He's more times and not men, very honest. And there's parts
of me that want to believe him a little bit here. As, you
know, he tells this story about, you know,
I kind of wanted to retire but I wasn't going to do it unless
Brady came back. I kind of want to because I do believe it's in
him to think about Todd Bowles and think about that type of
move. I do think Bruce Arians, is that
type of human being?
That would do that
I do. But I'm not sure if I really do believe exactly that.
This is the way it went down. I still can't get behind that
totally between the things. I know and things we know behind
the scenes a little bit to where it just
doesn't quite make sense and I'm not going to totally
believe it until I hear maybe some more substantial rumors or
inside info. There.
Somebody came up with a narrative. That was partially
true.
That
they were able to sell to Aryans. That allowed him to
walk away without the perception that he was pushed.
Yeah. It's that simple. It's seen that happen away right in
other industries,
that happens in all walks of life. We have to come up with
something
that that makes it look better than it would be and even make
it look like. It was the idea
of the person who's actually being
nudged out of the way
because again,
the The Tom Brady comes back. I had this thought earlier in
the week because I've made this as it relates to Brady and Bill
Belichick. Let's have an even better
example. Let's say that last year
Drew Brees retires from the Saints
and 17 days later,
Drew Brees unrwa tires. No, wait,
I'm getting my timeline wrong.
Drew Brees retires from the Saints
40 days later. He and retires from the st. Surprises.
Everyone. He's back. Back.
If Sean Payton leaves 17 days later, that's a pretty big deal
for Drew Brees.
Drew Brees reaction. That is hey, Sean. I wish you would
have
bleeping told me to me. Were my clear set out to raise late.
Exactly. Right. If, if I'm coming back to play. Yes,
the idea that there has been nothing,
not even a peep,
not even a regret, a lot
and nothing just fine. That's fine. Yeah. Great Bobby of
Bruce's out. That's fine. I'm still here. No big deal. None
of these guys. Ryan Jen.
Nobody else. Nobody got any concerns about signing
contracts. No, it's fine. Come on. Come on people.
The evidence is hiding in plain sight.
And
anyway, and you throw just what we see
on top of what we already know what you and I know and we
would not be banging. This dramas aggressive of we have
trust me this
Tom Brady to Miami was happening. So why did he retire
for 40 days? Why did he retire? And he didn't retire when he
did because he has PN reported. He was Retiring. So he had no
choice
but to retire. Give me a freakin break,
he retired because he wanted to implement some other plan for
the continuation of his career. No, quite and Miami
was planned a maybe San Francisco was Plan B.
Miami was plan a yeah, and Miami was definitely plan a
and you know, we know that I I know it's oh and of course, you
know it too. So that was a real thing. And obviously there was
you know, some finagling and some wiggling.
As I understand the timeline to their, yes,
it was trying to figure that out and then going back to
Bruce Arians, you know, quote that we just heard there. He's
hey, we then we started to make plans for other cubies
and that's when the, you know,
Tom was coming to the point of wait. I don't know if I have
any other avenues here and oh wait, they're going to start
flirting with maybe DeShaun Watson and some of these other
guys that might hit the market here.
I got to make a decision. Okay, I'll come back to the Tampa and
then that starts the next phase of that conversation, which
We believe is okay. I want to come back but I'm not sure
I want to be back with Bruce areas. And you know again,
there's a lot of people in the league that think that's
certainly
had gone down because we know the history a little bit and
some of the issues there
and last week Buccaneers GM Jason light told Rich highs and
that Tom Brady never demanded that and again, come on. Let's
apply Common Sense. Part of being Tom Brady is you don't
have to get your hands dirty.
You don't have to demand anything you have ways of
making your point without ever having to directly make
the point to Jason light, or anyone named Glaser in the ownership
reaches of the organization, or if he does have to do that to
your point.
You've always said, Mike. I mean, even if he did, they're
not going to do anything. I mean, this is this is Don
Corleone of Tampa. Right now. They're gonna kiss the ring and
they're in, they're not going to make them look bad. They're
all about. Like,
you've always said, get them back in the stadium, get
the stadium filled sell more jerseys. We need Brady, so
they're going to do and say whatever they got to do to A
continue to appeal to him and make him feel comfortable,
which I understand. They should he's freaking Tom Brady. He's
the man and he still damn damn good quarterback
one last point before we pivot to another sound bite from
Bruce. Arians that on the back end. Maybe we will
stir up a little more trouble. But let's wait on that. I want
to say this the bribe Flores lawsuit,
the fact that it contained the allegations about Flores
resisting.
Urging to meet with a high-profile quarterback who
wasn't named and everybody knows. It was Tom Brady. I just
I am curious as to whether the Flores lawsuit was specifically
constructed.
To have the effect of pulling the plug
on The Brady /. Peyton to Miami plan. How much about that
was Flores aware of?
How much about that made its way into the allegations of his
original complaint. And
and what were they
were they holding the paperwork
for the day that Tom Brady retired. I mean was it
an accident or a coincident that
the bride Flores lawsuit got filed the same? Freaking day.
Did they have that thing ready to go
and Flores knew what the plan was? He knew that he was going
to become a minority owner of the Dolphins, Super Bowl week.
That that's what it was going to be announced. So he had to
retire at some point before then. So let's have
the paperwork ready to go
and the day. Tom Brady retires.
We're going to drop this thing on to the NFL.
That's there's a story potentially to be told there
because he's either a coincidence or it's not.
I think there was definitely some shady things that went on
as far as Brian Flores and what you know, he's concerned. With
that is interesting.
I'd be interested to know that as well
at the very least.
I mean the more we know here, the more I mean, we know that,
you know, certainly all these things. Yeah, pull up your boat
next to another guy's boat. And yeah that famous quarterback
was going to be Tom Brady and there was going to be
a conversation with ownership and whatever
fours didn't want to take part of that.
And also I mean the end of course the looks now that
Flores was fired because they thought they were going to get
Brady and Sean Payton. I got to think that was
part of the reason, the firing let alone. I don't know.
There's there's obviously some other issues maybe that we've
talked about in heard, but
I mean, the way it's lining up right now, that's the way it
looks certainly. And then, of course, the lawsuit itself.
I don't know if that affected it, or where it went from there,
but
certainly things spiraled, downhill in a hurry. After all
of that. By the way, quick reminder. It was 10 days ago
that we told you on this program that
the Brian Flores lawsuit would
It'd be amended by April 8 to include among other things to
additional plaintiffs,
two additional teams. Today is April 7
friendly, reminder. Something is coming very very soon.