NFL Odds, Props: Where will Tom Brady play next season?

Tom Brady, the G.O.A.T. in the eyes of many football fans, is so accustomed to winning, especially in the playoffs, that the 31-14 Wild Card defeat at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys felt like a bigger surprise than it should have. The reality is that his NFL South champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers captured what was considered the worst division in the NFL, alongside the AFC South. An 8-9 record is nothing to shout about, even when it results in a division crown.

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How did we get here?

The Bucs had the 25th-highest-scoring offence in the league, greatly nullifying the effect of Brady’s third-place ranking for total passing yards and passing yards per game. Plenty of those were earned when trailing in the second half of games. Plus, they had absolutely no running game, forcing them throw the ball at a high rate anyways. Monday night’s test against the Cowboys made Brady look like a 45-year-old quarterback, with all due respect.

And now comes free agency. Even though offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich was fired on Wednesday, many experts believe TB12 will be wearing different colours next season. Lest we forget, he did sign a deal with FOX Sports last year in anticipation of what he may do after his playing career. That said, this is the same person who retired in February 2022, only to announce his return to football before any flowers or leaves were in bloom. This also isn’t the first time Brady explores free agency with a real chance of changing jerseys. After all, it is how he left New England after the 2019 season and headed south for Florida.

Possible Destinations

Las Vegas Raiders

Speaking of teams that ended their campaigns with uncertainty under centre, look no further than the Raiders. After a nine-year stint, it is obvious that Derek Carr’s time wearing silver and black is over. He was benched for the final two games despite that Las Vegas was mathematically alive for a playoff spot in Week 17. With an impressive arsenal of receivers like Davante Adams, Hunter Renfrow, and Darren Waller, having Brady to lead the attack could be what the Raiders are missing. Plus, he would reunite with Josh McDaniels, his offensive coordinator in New England.

 San Francisco 49ers

For several reasons, it’s interesting to see San Francisco as the team with the next highest odds. For starters, Mike Shanahan and his crew seem to whirl their magic with just about any quarterback. The team has known success with both Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock Purdy as starters, albeit for vastly different lengths of time. But Garappolo has already come close once already to no longer being in San Francisco, and Purdy is still at the start of his NFL career and relatively unknown. Furthermore, the jury is still out on Trey Lance, though through no fault of his own. Of course, as most football fans are aware, Tom Brady grew up in the Bay area and cheered the 49ers on as a youth, thus making a season (or more?) with the Niners a storybook ending of sorts.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The third-highest odds go to the squad he is still officially a member of. As we mentioned, the offensive coordinator was just thanked earlier this week. Many have pointed out how curious the decision was given that the same tactician helped guide the Bucs to a Super Bowl two years ago and to be one of the best attacks in the NFL in 2021. Then again, Bruce Arians was gone from the touchline after last season and Brady stuck around, albeit circuitously. There would be a case to make for continuity and a comfort level with receivers such as Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. The offensive line will need sprucing up, however. At his age, Tom Brady cannot operate behind so porous a protective unit.

Miami Dolphins

Fourth on the list are the Miami Dolphins. To be perfectly clear, Miami has jumped near the top of the list for wholly unfortunate reasons. For a large stretch of the season, it genuinely looked as if they were no longer in search of their main quarterback. It was Tua Tagovailova. Unfortunately, the young man suffered not one but two head injuries that sent him into concussion recovery protocols. The first even had the NFL revise its concussion procedures. Now, who knows when Tua will play…or even should.

New York Jets

As alluded to in our sister article about Lamar Jackson’s potential landing spots, the Zach Wilson experiment in New York has gone very sour, very quickly. It would mean, alas, that the Jets are in search of a quarterback to guide them to winning ways for the third time in only five years. Tom Brady would be a temporary solution, especially at his age. It’s not as though he would have to worry about putting up 30 points on a weekly basis. The Jets gave up the fourth-least amount of points per game in 2022. Then again, the Bucs weren’t much worse and still finished 8-9 (8-10 with the playoff loss).