Why Shannon Sharpe Has ‘Problem’ With Tom Brady Jersey Number Story

Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht revealed this week during an interview with NBC Sports’ Peter King that Tom Brady was prepared to wear No. 7 if Chris Godwin was unwilling to give up No. 12.

The reason? Brady is chasing his seventh Super Bowl ring.

Of course, Godwin switched to No. 14, allowing Brady to continue wearing No. 12 with his new organization after sporting the digits for 20 years with the New England Patriots.

Still, it’s a somewhat interesting story — unless you’re Shannon Sharpe.

Sharpe ranted a bit Thursday on FS1’s “Undisputed,” wondering why it even was necessary for Licht to divulge such information.

As Sharpe explained, there’s simply no way Brady would’ve been forced to wear No. 7, as the Bucs would have done whatever it took to get Godwin to change his number.

“This is the problem that I have with people,” Sharpe said. “See, it’s just not good enough for Tom Brady to be an all-time great player. Historically great. If you wanna say he’s the best, OK, fine. I’m not gonna fight you on that one today. If you wanna say Tom Brady’s the GOAT, Tom Brady’s the GOAT. That’s not good enough.

“Now name the historically great quarterback that transferred teams and not gotten the number that he was known for. When Peyton Manning left Indy and came to the Broncos, they took Frank Tripucka’s number out of retirement. Will you look at Joe Montana when he went to Kansas City? They gave him that. When Drew Brees left, Montana, (Johnny) Unitas, Brett Favre — (Favre) got (No. 4) with the Jets, he got (No. 4) with Minnesota. They give them guys their number.”

Sharpe was no stranger to throwing occasional shade at Brady and the Patriots during the QB’s two decades of dominance in New England, so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that Licht’s anecdote has the former NFL tight end a little worked up.

But he has a point. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where Brady actually would’ve changed his number. He has far too much tied to the TB12 moniker, and Godwin, while an excellent player, would have been under immense pressure to take one for the team.

“All I’m saying is it’s OK for Tom Brady to be a great football player. Stop making it seem like he does everything, that he’s perfect,” Sharpe said. “That’s the problem that I have in this situation. That didn’t even need to be mentioned. You knew … you were gonna take 12 off Chris Godwin’s back and give it to Tom Brady.”

Wait, Tom Brady isn’t perfect?