Bucs' Bruce Arians Makes it Clear He's Ready to Pursue Tom Brady and Philip Rivers in Free Agency
By Brendan Balsamo
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had some issues at quarterback last season. Jameis Winston can throw for a lot of touchdowns, but at the same time, the former No. 1 pick has had incredible amounts of trouble taking care of the ball. So much, in fact, that he became the first quarterback to throw for 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in the same season in 2019. Since then, he went as far as getting eye surgery to improve his vision.
Winston's struggles to keep to ball out of reach of defenders is why, per the Athletic's Greg Auman, Bucs head coach Bruce Arians is open to potential courtships of Tom Brady and Philip Rivers in free agency.
Asked for examples of NFL quarterbacks he'd pick up the phone for in free agency, Bruce Arians said "Tom Brady. Philip (Rivers) is another guy. We'll see."
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) February 25, 2020
Arians has already come out on NFL Network and said that Winston would be returning -- unless the Bucs can land a big-name star that provides another path forward.
Brady is entering his age 43 season and Rivers is entering his age 38 season. While Winston is only 26, he's never quite looked the part of a franchise quarterback despite his ability to air it out for big yardage. If the move is to win now, Arians and Co. must be prepared to hand Jameis his walking papers.
Bruce Arians confirms on NFL Network that there is a QB who could be available that he prefers over Jameis Winston and if he can get him, they’ll move on from Winston and if they can’t, they will bring Jameis back ?.
— uSTADIUM (@uSTADIUM) February 25, 2020
Arians saying all this publicly does run the risk of harming Winston's confidence. The Bucs going after Brady and Rivers could blow up in their faces in that regard, but the potential payoff is just too big to ignore entirely.