After winning seven Super Bowl trophies, Tom Brady is like the NFL’s golden boy. He can do no wrong.
Yet, while Brady has found himself at the center of controversy on several occasions, such as deflategate and Miami getting caught tampering with TB12 in free agency, he’s never really gotten in too much trouble, aside from his four-game suspension back in 2016.
However, now some recent comments by his former teammate is placing the spotlight on Brady again. According to Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive lineman Ali Marpet, Brady used to bribe or incentivize his teammates if they could accomplish specific goals.
“[Brady] took our starting offensive line to the side and he’s like, ‘Hey, if you guys can get a screen to go for more than 15 yards, I will give you $1,000 cash each. That is for you guys, so every time that we get that, I will be happy to make that payment.’”
Former Tom Brady teammate Ali Marpet
The Bucs accomplished this feat on several occasions, causing Brady to dig deep into his pocketbooks to pay out the bonuses he promised. His teammates loved it.
“Tom just knowing how guys are wired and what goes a long way and inspiring and getting the most out of his guys.”
Ali Marpet on Tom Brady
To some, this is akin to the Saints’ bounty program in 2012, yet the one major difference is this one didn’t involve players being paid bonuses for purposefully injuring other players. Still, technically, Brady violated the NFL’s rules against offering players extra money off the books.
Will the NFL respond in any way? What can they really do? While there’s been rumblings of a potential comeback, Brady isn’t on an NFL team anymore, and punishing the Buccaneers for something a former player did two years ago may not make much sense.
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