In an extract from his new book, Lars Anderson relates how the Bucs promised that Florida could give the veteran a more enjoyable football life
On the first day of the free agent negotiating period – it started at noon on Monday, 16 March –Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht sat in his office at One Buc Place and phoned Brady’s longtime agent Don Yee at precisely fifteen seconds after 12. “I’m calling about Tom,” Licht said.
“You made the right call,” Yee told Licht. “You really made a good decision to call me.” Yee went on to explain that Brady had been paying close attention to the Bucs and Arians. He emphasized how much Brady respected Arians – who had written a book in 2017 called The Quarterback Whisperer – and Yee noted that Brady had been impressed with the work Arians had done with quarterbacks through the years. Brady had researched Arians, watching a documentary on him, and he admired how close Arians had been with all of his past quarterbacks. “You’ve got a good nucleus of talent at Tampa,” Yee told Licht, “and it’s important that the head coach, general manager, ownership, and the quarterback have the same commitment to winning.”
