At one point during Bruce Arians’ press conference capping his farewell as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach, he took one last jab at the conspiracy theory bound to linger well beyond the 2022 season. Specifically, the one that put Arians at loggerheads with quarterback Tom Brady, allegedly leading to the quarterback’s brief retirement this offseason.
“People got to write shit,” Arians said. “It couldn’t be further from the truth.”
It was an interesting moment, because it leans into reinforcing a question that has never been fully answered about Brady. The one that seeks to know why, after less than six weeks, Brady decided to suddenly come back out of retirement on March 13. A change of heart that occurred despite seemingly nothing tangibly changing with the Buccaneers organization. The roster certainly wasn’t any better. Indeed, you could actually argue it was well on its way to getting worse with the retirement of Pro Bowl offensive lineman Ali Marpet, not to…