The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will return future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady for his Age-45 season after GOAT briefly dipped his feet in retirement earlier this offseason.
Tampa also has veteran Blaine Gabbert and youngster Kyle Trask backing Tom Terrific up. Its quarterback room seems to be completely filled heading into training camp later this month.
That didn’t stop ridiculous rumors from popping up over the past few days suggesting that the Buccaneers are interested in trading for injury-plagued San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
Seriously, we’re not even sure where these rumors came from. In addition to recovering from off-season shoulder surgery, Garoppolo is set to count $24.2 million against the cap in 2022. Even if the Buccaneers were able to rework said deal, a trade makes absolutely no sense for the Super Bowl contenders in 2022.
In what can’t be considered too much of a surprise, the Buccaneers are pushing back against rumors that they’re interested in Jimmy GQ. In the process, they are seemingly throwing shade in his direction.
“If (Garoppolo) could throw a deep ball, he would’ve won two Super Bowls already.”
Unnamed Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach on Jimmy Garoppolo, via Rick Stroud of the tampa bay times
Man, Garoppolo is probably out here getting some sun and working on his tan. Why did dude need to catch some strays? That’s rough.
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Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ “interest” in Jimmy Garoppolo never made sense
Former NFL player and “insider” Dan Sileo reported recently that the Buccaneers would love to have Garoppolo as the heir-apparent to Brady. In a vacuum, this makes sense in that Brady might very well retire for good following the 2022 season.
Then, we take a trip back to the real world. Garoppolo is entering the final year of his current contract. He’s still yet to throw after off-season shoulder surgery. Why would the Buccaneers pull off a trade for him when he’d serve as the world’s richest clipboard holder? Simply put, the Bucs could easily opt to sign Garoppolo outright next March if they actually view him as Brady’s successor.
This report was thrown into the conversation during a slow part of the NFL news cycle. It also included the obvious backdrop between Garoppolo and Brady dating back to their days together as members of the New England Patriots. If nothing else, it’s mere speculation based on said relationship.
For now, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will head into this season as one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl.
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As for San Francisco, it will ride with youngster Trey Lance after the formerly Garoppolo-led team lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game last season.
Meanwhile, Garoppolo appears to be a man without a home with camps opening up here soon. That was magnified after the Carolina Panthers pulled off a trade for Baker Mayfield last week. There’s simply no trade market for the enigmatic Super Bowl quarterback.
That’s the harsh reality of the situation regardless of people throwing things againt the wall and hoping that they stick.