Tom Brady has proven to be one of the best things to ever happen to the Buccaneers organization.
But according to Jeff Darlington, the future Hall of Fame quarterback was close to becoming a nightmare for Tampa Bay.
Before Brady locked into a third season with the Bucs, there was chatter that the seven-time Super Bowl champion could take his talents to Miami. Furthermore, there was talk the Dolphins had their eyes on a quarterback-head coach tandem of Brady and Sean Payton.
Darlington touched on the Brady-Fins rumors during a Tuesday appearance on 560 Sports' "The Joe Rose Show with Zach Krantz." In doing so, the ESPN NFL insider revealed how Tampa Bay nearly came up short in the Brady sweepstakes back in 2020.
"Do I believe that Tom Brady will eventually have a role within the Dolphins organization? I sort of do," Darlington said, as transcribed by WEEI. "But does that mean -- were Sean and Tom thinking and considering the possibility of doing something where he's playing and Sean is coaching? Yeah, sure. Things get talked about in this industry all the time, and it is fun to play revisionist history. But guess what? Tom Brady was so close to joining the Saints.
"If Drew Brees had decided not to come back for that final year and say, for instance, go to the 'Monday Night Football' booth instead of coming back for another season, Tom Brady would've played for the Saints. And Sean Payton would probably still be there. And we could talk about that ad nauseum, too, but it didn't happen."
Brady probably has no issues with how things shook out. Sure, he might've liked working with Payton more than Bruce Arians, but the Bucs' roster has been better constructed the past few seasons than the Saints'. And, you know, he won a Super Bowl in his first season in Tampa Bay.
As for the Saints, Darlington's report likely will have the fanbase thinking "what if?" for years.
