Earlier this offseason, Tom Brady relayed a story about being incredulous that a particular team passed on him during his 2020 free agency tour before he ultimately landed in Tampa and helped guide the Buccaneers to the Super Bowl.
During the filming of HBO's The Shop, Brady revealed that he was surprised a team would stick with its current QB over chasing him, saying, "I'm sitting there thinking, you're sticking with that (expletive)? Are you serious?"
Speculation regarding which team and QB Brady was referencing has run rampant since the episode aired last month. During an interview with Jim Gray for SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio set to air Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET, Brady declined to shut down the gossip by revealing who he was referring to.
"There's private things for me that are going to remain motivational for me," he said, via Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald. "They know who they are ... it's fine. Everyone has a choice to choose. I think what you realize is, there's not as many smart people as you think. That's just the reality. I think it'd be a no-brainer if you said, 'Hey, you've got a chance to get Wayne Gretzky on your team, or you got a chance to have Michael Jordan on your team.' ... 'Oh, we don't need him, no thanks. We're good.'
"In my mind, I'm kind of thinking, 'OK, let me go show those teams what they're missing.' At the same time, let me go prove to the team that did bet on me, and the team that really showed they really wanted me, and committed to me, that I'm not going to let them down."
No one in sports is better than Brady at contorting things to provide self-motivation. That trait propelled TB12 to seven Super Bowl wins in nine appearances, and the greatest career in football history. So instead of tossing the team that passed on him to stick with an "(expletive)" at QB, Brady will internalize it and use it to ensure that the self-placed chip on his shoulder never dissipates.
