The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have won the NFC South again this season, but the whole year was a slog, and they were dominated in the wild card round by the Dallas Cowboys.
It was the first pedestrian season since Tom Brady came aboard in 2020, which means the team may want to run it back in hopes of a bounce-back 2023.
Former Buccaneers quarterback Shaun King doesn’t think that’s a good idea.
The former second-rund pick, who played for Tampa Bay from 1999 through 2003, says Brady’s advancing age means the Bucs are no longer a contender, and stringing it along for another year would be a mistake.
“This group’s Super Bowl window, in my opinion, has closed,” King told Compare.bet. “I would start evaluating what pieces do we have where we can get the most back? I would start stripping this roster down of some of my higher-priced guys that I think still have value, and I would start my rebuild now.”
#Bucs Bowles says "You never want to rebuild." Contracts and the QB question hang over that philosophy for sure.
— Dan Lucas (@WFLADan) January 17, 2023
The Buccaneers have a lot of talented players under contract for 2023, but it may be far-fetched to believe they can get to the same level as the Eagles and 49ers next season.
Tampa Bay finished 2023 with a 8-9 record and were No. 17 in Team DVOA, per Football Outsiders, sitting in the middle of the pack offensively and defensively.
The Bucs won the Super Bowl after the 2020 season, so the Brady signing ended up being a home run, but King believes the future Hall of Famer is finally nearing the end of the road at age 45.
“Let’s be honest, man,” King said. “Why does everybody beat around the bush? Tom Brady is the most accomplished quarterback at the professional level we’ve ever seen, and nobody in modern football is getting to 10 Super Bowls, and they’re definitely not winning seven. In spite of that, you still should be honest about what he is now. He’s a shell of himself. Especially when he’s encountered with pressure.
“It happens, man. You get old. You step off the sidewalk and you feel like you jumped off a ten-story building. It happens to everybody. It’s just a part of getting old. Yeah, in spurts he can still make some throws, and, yeah, every second or third game he can have a fourth quarter that makes you remember how great he was. But from start to finish, he’s not the same player. Age is undefeated. If you watch Tom Brady play, when he is under pressure and duress, he is completely out of whack. That’s just the reality of it.”
Before you hit me with the coaching aspect of this debacle ( which I'm with you ) please start off with brady has been awful first
— shaun king (@realshaunking) January 17, 2023
The Buccaneers were hit hard by injuries and defections on the offensive line this season, which King said was the main reason the passing attack took a nosedive.
“You’ve got an old quarterback that’s definitely not comfortable with pressure, and you’ve lost three of your five starting offensive linemen,” King said. “And then you lose your All-Pro tackle, Tristan Wirfs, for multiple games. There was going to be regression in the pass protection, and at this point in his career it’s too much to overcome. It’s not a criticism. The truth doesn’t have emotions. It’s just the truth.”
Brady has +150 odds to return to the Buccaneers next season, according to DraftKings.
