Arians, who had called his allegedly strained relationship with Brady “bulls***,” up and decided it’s the perfect time for him to step aside and hand the reins to defensive coordinator Todd Bowles.
A sudden change by Arians that supposedly occurred because of Brady’s unretirement, but in a way that is 180 degrees counter to anything previously reported. According to Arians, he’s stepping aside now because he wanted Bowles to coach a team with Brady at the helm — not because Brady wanted to play for a team that didn’t include Arians in the head coaching seat. And Brady supposedly unretired without having any issue with this. Despite all his respect and admiration for Arians, he’s also totally cool if the guy isn’t around on the coaching staff in 2022.
Sure. That makes total sense. There’s nothing wonky about this storyline at all. Nor the fact that it all seemed to come together after Brady met with Buccaneers ownership in London prior to his unretirement.
Lest anyone forget, this change also comes with Arians being put into the team’s ring of honor and “elevating” him to a still-undefined position in the franchise’s administrative layer. And while he’s in that position, a source tells Yahoo Sports that he will earn the same money written into the contract extension he signed only nine months ago. It’s a great payday for those who can just step aside into it.
By the way, this is the same Arians who said in January he was definitely coaching in 2022 and told NFL Network that same month, “I’m coaching until I can’t.” Also the very same Arians who spoke defiantly at the NFL scouting combine in early March about not letting Brady play anywhere else and sounded like he was all-in on next season — even to the point of starting to vet his next suite of quarterback options.
I can’t recall a previous era when a player could dictate who he wanted — or at least didn’t want as his head coach. Perhaps the closest equivalent was John Elway refusing to play for the Baltimore Colts before entering the 1983 NFL draft.