Tompa Bay Buccaneers
Tom Brady has split with the New England Patriots after 20 years and is now looking for a rejuvenation of his career down south, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Signing a 2 year deal with the team back in Spring, Brady hopes to likely end his career with one last ring. The part that’s crazier than a 40 something year old QB resuming his career in a completely different system to win a final ring is that it actually might happen.
If people think Brady is diminished skill-wise, he’s going to have a lot of weapons to hide it. He is joining an offense with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin as his receivers, Rob Gronkowski came out of retirement to be his tight end alongside O.J. Howard then Leonard Fournette just got added to the running back group. It is an obvious upgrade from what he was working with in New England last season.
NFC Brady could be the equivalent of Lebron joining the West. Year after year, Brady was competed against meager talent in his division, and occasionally matching wit with top tier QB’s when they were healthy. The NFC could prove to be a tad bit tougher along with the NFC South he’s playing. He’ll be rivaled with Matt Ryan and Drew Brees, playing them twice a year, including making his regular season debut against the latter. Besides, twice a year he will be playing the Falcons — the team in which he generated a generational sports comeback/meme on — and will surely get Brady’s blood boiling. As far as the conference itself, he’ll have a chance to take on Russell Wilson again or pull up to Dallas and put on a show, whether it’s the upcoming postseason or sometime next year. For now, Brady is a Buccaneer and looking to add another world title to his treasure chest.
Post Payday Mahomes and Watson
Kansas City Chiefs Patrick Mahomes and Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson have broken defenses last season and broke the bank in the offseason. Mahomes signed a 12 year $503 million extension over the summer, which obviously put him as the highest paid QB. Right behind him was Watson, who signed a 4 year, $156 million contract less than a week before the season kicked off. 2 players deserving of their paydays based off their production talent, but you can’t help but wonder the heights they are going to go.
With that much money for either QB, the lights are going to be brighter soon as they take their first snap this season. 2 players that perform at their position at that high of a high level, who receives that high of an average salary, will be expected to push their teams to the highest pinnacle. Mahomes is coming off a Super Bowl win with a solid defense and a thrilling weapon in Tyreek Hill. Watson is coming off of a season which included getting his first playoff win. There are obviously different fortunes obtained by these 2 QB’s but their fanbases, as well as the outside ones, will be keeping an eye on how much they live up to the signing bonus.
The NFL in a 2020 microcosm
The NFL is a billion-dollar corporation; and just like other billion-dollar corporations, they have to respond to the happenings of the world this year which includes speaking out on social injustice and utilizing COVID-19 protections. Just last year, we were able to discuss the former without involving the latter but thing have obviously changed. While sports leagues such as the NBA and MLB, have made their efforts to address both, the NFL will be the next platform to make their stand and precautions at the same time.
The league has made some measures in both areas before even taking a snap, which may have caused some snaps. The preseason has been scrapped, which had made it hard for some teams to evaluate talent such as lower draft picks as well as free agents. NFL has also given players the choice of opting out of the season in lieu of safety concerns due to COVID. Those are just some of the COVID measures; there’s still things coming for the racial injustice side. The season opener between the Texans and Chiefs is supposed to be open with the Negro National Anthem. Each end zone this season is supposed to have a message speaking out against racial injustice. Perhaps, the highlight of this current wave is Commissioner Roger Goodell admitting the league made a mistake in its handling of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Just about every company in America is maneuvering through responding to racial injustice and COVID-19, and as big as they are, the NFL would be no different. Even though, these round of social injustice messages came about in wake of the George Floyd death in May, the NFL feel they need to get in on this right now, especially since their high profile hiring of Jay-Z last August to bring attention to these matters. Even though it has been 4 years, the NFL still feels a little bit of sting from how things went with Kaepernick. Aside from the QB being blackballed, a lot of that situation has painted a negative picture of how the owners feel about African American issues. Now is an opportunity for the league to put forth some effort in getting rid of that image. And after all of that, they still have to protect fans, players, coaches and league employees from a global pandemic. Nobody knows when this COVID-19 will pass and return everything to normal so it’s best to set guidelines for the best, safe scenario at the games. Preseason has already been thrown out and teams have already announced their limitations for attendance. What’s going on in 2020 is bigger than football but those changes will have to fit in the small world of the NFL.
New Era New England
With Tom Brady sailing off to newer waters with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the New England Patriots are embarking onto a journey they have been largely unfamiliar with. For the first time in 20 seasons, they will have a new starting quarterback to kick their season off. But not just anybody will be settling under center at Foxboro; former MVP Cam Newton will be taking over as the new starting QB, with a style that was certainly a deviant from that of his predecessor. While Newton is far from a scrub – even recovering from a shoulder injury that sidelined him last season – he does not have that Patriots fans can feel. For the Patriots, they are going to have to earn being feared again. Newton is a great player, but he is coming behind an all-time great who has left a lasting mark on this franchise. He’s also coming into a new offensive system, where both sides will have to meet in the middle on QB’s skillsets and expectations of how the plays should be run. It also can’t be overlooked that quite a few key members of the team opted out of the season due to COVID concerns. This could make the Pats vulnerable to their division rivals, especially the Buffalo Bills who locked in their best cornerback with a new and also nabbed Stefon Diggs from the Vikings to help QB Josh Allen. Bill Belichick is an all-time great coach and can find a way to pull it all together for a decent season. But if Patriots re expecting championships within the next few years, they’ll have to think again during this New Era in New England.
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