Last season was the best of times and the worst times for the Buccaneers at the quarterback position.
Jameis Winston led the NFL in passing yards with 5109 yards. This was also a new Buccaneer season record.
Winston also led the NFL in turnovers throwing 30 interceptions and was the first player in NFL history to be a part of the 30-30 club. Passing for over 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions.
Winston single-handedly cost the Bucs the last two games of the season throwing untimely interceptions against Houston and Atlanta.
The Bucs decided that Winston was not the quarterback of the future and did not resign him to a second contract.
Winston ended up signing with the New Orleans Saints for just over one million dollars on a one year contract.
With the Saints losing Teddy Bridgewater to Carolina and Drew Brees preparing for what may be his final season, Winston may be the guy that the Saints turn to in 2021.
During the off-season, the Bucs looked at all their options at the quarterback position. According to Bruce Arians, they liked Tom Brady as the best option. Followed by Teddy Bridgewater, and then if both of those options failed they would re-sign Jameis Winston.
No one was expecting the Bucs to be able to sign Tom Brady, but when looking at his options available to him, Brady decided that Tampa would be his new home.
The minute Brady signed with the Bucs, there was an instant buzz around this franchise that hadn’t been felt in a long time.
Immediately the Bucs were playoff contenders. Some people put the Bucs in the Super Bowl.
Brady also drove revenue for the Bucs as CEO Brian Ford said last week that the Stadium was sold out for every home game.
The 43-year-old is the greatest quarterback in NFL history. You could argue, but you would be wrong.
Brady brings a solid worth ethic to Tampa along with his Six Super Bowl Rings.
Brady began to show his leadership right away as he organized some of his teammates for early morning workouts which were frowned upon by the league and the NFLPA.
Last season with the Patriots, Brady passed for 4,057 yards with 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Brady has seen his metrics drop the last two years but is still regarded as a top 10 quarterback in the league.
With no preseason games, there will be no chance back-up Blaine Gabbert and third-string quarterback Ryan Griffin get any kind of game experience this training camp.
Gabbert missed all of last season with a shoulder injury, and Ryan Griffin threw all of four passes.
If Brady suffers an injury, this could come back to haunt the Bucs with Gabbert, and Griffin getting little to no reps with the starters.
John Franklin courtesy of Twitter
The new face in the quarterback room is John Franklin. Franklin, the star of Last Chance U, played with Jameis Winston at Florida State.
Franklin was a quarterback in college but has played defensive back, and wide receiver in his limited NFL experience.
Arians is excited to have Franklin on the roster. Arians loves players that can do more than one thing effectively and Franklin certainly fits the bill.
Arians has talked about using Franklin in various wildcat formations and that could be bad news for Ryan Griffin.
Griffin has played seven years in the NFL and has attempted four passes in his career.
Griffin could find himself looking for another job shortly.
With the game-day roster at 53, a guy like Franklin can all of a sudden give the Bucs a sixth wide receiver, an extra defensive back, and be the third quarterback on the depth chart.
Brady will be throwing to the best receiving group in the league. You can make a case that this is the best group of receivers he has played with in his career.
The Bucs need to be thinking about how they address the quarterback position going forward.
Brady is on a two-year deal and with the salary cap dropping next season, this could be the only year that the Bucs can afford to have a deep enough roster to make a deep playoff run.
For now, the GOAT is in Tampa and we should see some of the best football we have seen in a long time in Tampa.
