Chucky, Tom Brady And Bucs History
September 4th, 2025
“Really Jon, Derek Carr?” (Photo from @BarstoolGruden.)
Joe saw pictures this week of Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Chucky hanging with Bucs Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady at the Tampa Theatre. There, the Bucs hosted season ticket holders in a sneak preview of excerpts from an hours-long documentary commissioned by the Team Glazer of the Bucs’ first 50 seasons.
Clearly, Chucky was a major reason why the Bucs won their first Super Bowl in 2002. And believe it or not, Chucky would be a major reason why the Bucs won their second Super Bowl in 2020.
That spring, Brady was a free agent. The unofficial version of the story of how Brady came to Tampa was that Brady had long set his sights on the Bucs because of the talent on the roster, specifically targets in the passing game (Mike Evans, Chris Godwin) to throw to.
And yeah, playing for Mr. No-Risk-It-No-Biscuit Bucco Bruce Arians seemed like a cool idea, too.
Well, as the recently retired Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast my friend!”
The Bucs were not Brady’s first choice. His first choice was the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders at the time were coached by Chucky.
There have been rumors swirling for years that Chucky didn’t want Brady. Why that is, only one can speculate. One speculation was that Chucky didn’t want the then 42-year old Brady because, if Father Time caught up with Brady, Chucky didn’t want to be the only coach who had a losing season with the greatest to ever throw a football.
Sinister speculation was that Chucky didn’t want to be upstaged in his role as the big cheese of the Raiders.
(As Joe often types, never, ever underestimate the power of egos within the NFL.)
But this rumor of Chucky turning away Brady and sticking with Derek Carr (can you imagine?) has never been confirmed.
Until now.
In a sitdown with Baron Davis for Raiders.com, Las Vegas owner Mark Davis explained how Brady was supposed to come to Sin City to play for the Raiders before Chucky shot down the idea.
“He was supposed to be here in 2020,” Davis said of Brady. “We talked about him about coming here and playing quarterback. Obviously, it was a tough decision. He was close to coming here. But… “
But, Chucky wouldn’t have it, per Davis.
“The head coach and general manager decided they wanted to go in another direction,” Davis said. “So we didn’t sign him.”
The general manager who Davis referenced was then-Las Vegas general manager Mike Mayock. As Bucs fans know too well, Chucky had final say in all personnel matters with the Raiders, just like he had the same power with the Bucs.
And that’s how Brady came to the Bucs.
So when Joe saw pictures of Brady and Chucky chatting earlier this week, Joe can only imagine what may have been said.
“Hey Jon, thanks for not wanting a Hall of Fame quarterback back in 2020. Everything worked out just fine.”
Joe gives a heartfelt, sincere thanks to Chucky for chasing Brady out of Las Vegas and into Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht’s lap.
#Raiders owner Mark Davis explains what led him to choosing Tom Brady to oversee the football side: pic.twitter.com/Z1OwEXtW69
— PharoahNFL (@pharoahnfl) September 4, 2025
September 4th, 2025 at 5:19 am
Brady needs to step back with the other Buccaneer Super Bowl winners. Ole New England hired hand arse. Gotta try and outshine every single time.
September 4th, 2025 at 5:49 am
Just missing Bruce in that pic. GO BOWLES!
September 4th, 2025 at 6:06 am
Tony Dungy was a good part of leading up to that SB too.
Enjoyed the video of Brady’s and Collinsworth’s interview earlier this week that Joe posted. Brady shared a lot of love for the Bucs and coaches. So happy he came to the Bucs in his journey.
September 4th, 2025 at 6:19 am
Gruden let it be known in an interview with a he turned down Brady in favor of Derek Carr in 2020 LMAOOOOOOOO
2nd best thing he’s done for this franchise.
September 4th, 2025 at 6:39 am
It was a win win,,, all the wins were on our side,, We got Brady and a 2nd Super Bowl and The Saints eventually got Carr (another win for us)
September 4th, 2025 at 7:18 am
Maybe Brady had a little fire to him when we played the raiders cause I remember us blowing them out with Tom at QB
September 4th, 2025 at 7:26 am
Well, that was a mistake.
September 4th, 2025 at 7:29 am
The only way we’ll know if all parties take a lie detector test. That will not happen, so speculation will prevail what makes the what ifs interesting and somewhat 🤔 fun.
Brady was schooled in the Bill Belichek school of never saying much in an interview.
The most most important thing is the Bucs beating the Falcons on Sunday. GO BUCS
September 4th, 2025 at 7:39 am
Chunky not wanting Brady is exactly why we should never again want him as a coach.
September 4th, 2025 at 8:03 am
More people than not seemed to think he was washed after that last season in NE
September 4th, 2025 at 8:18 am
So Chucky was responsible for TB12 most important competed pass …the Lombardi toss to Cam Brate in the boat parade!!
September 4th, 2025 at 8:44 am
Gruden’s ego and lack of GM skills are always his biggest obstacles.
Chunky😂
September 4th, 2025 at 8:56 am
Allen — I read this article as more conclusive personally.
If the Raiders owner said that he wanted Brady and said that Chucky and Mayock decided no — at this point, I will take that as pretty close to factual and not wild speculation.
September 4th, 2025 at 9:08 am
Aqualung wonders what kind of bounty Jason Licht could get for trading Todd Bowles?
September 4th, 2025 at 9:11 am
When a cool photo!
September 4th, 2025 at 9:18 am
“Sinister speculation was that Chucky didn’t want to be upstaged in his role as the big cheese of the Raiders.”
I don’t think it’s speculative. I think Gruden absolutely hates having players on his team who are fan favorites. He stopped giving the ball to an all time fan favorite and benched him after a fumble (Alstott). He booted two popular receivers (Johnson and Jurevicius). Sapp, Lynch, and Rice were also extremely popular AND casualties. It seemed like everyone with a radio show got cut sooner than they should have.
I’m not saying all were released solely due to Chucky’s ego, but I bet his ego tipped the scales in the direction of GTFO in more than one case.
September 4th, 2025 at 9:45 am
Cool they brought a wax figure of Brady in
September 4th, 2025 at 9:45 am
Brad Johnson seems lost in Bucs history. He was very good and his bloody injury he came back from in that late season home game was tough as hell. He also had a great offense in Minnesota. He’s also never mentioned in FSU history either. Best QB no one has ever heard of. Is he not in Madden or something?
September 4th, 2025 at 10:06 am
WillieG
I always felt like he released JLynch because John was waaayyyy more popular and more intelligent than he was…
September 4th, 2025 at 10:09 am
I don’t think any of this proves that the Raiders were Brady’s first choice. Just that they were one of the choices, and Mark Davis was salivating at the idea of having the GOAT.
September 4th, 2025 at 10:11 am
He graduated as a backup to Casey Weldon. I mean, what exactly do you want FSU types to say?
I’m glad he played here, and he played well.
September 4th, 2025 at 10:37 am
“Brad Johnson seems lost in Bucs history. He was very good and his bloody injury he came back from in that late season home game was tough as hell.”
This is facts, and I’ll even admit I was a fan of his when he was in Minnesota heaving bombs to Randy Moss and carving defenses up with Cris Carter. Very undercelebrated figure in Bucs lore. Just found out I was watching both his boys in the UNC-TCU game.
September 4th, 2025 at 12:33 pm
I find it hard to believe that this picture was posted, and there isn’t even a mention of Brad Johnson in this picture. I know that the article is based on Jon Gruden and Tom Brady, and it is a compelling and important story in Buccaneers history; however can we a least place his name in the caption? Can we show him a little love? Do we win our first Super Bowl without BJ14?
GO BUCS!!!!
September 4th, 2025 at 12:37 pm
NFL is littered with WHAT IF’S I am glad Brady came here to save the fans from a decade of darkness
September 4th, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Never forget there were idiots in the comments here that wanted Teddy Bridgewater over Brady.
September 4th, 2025 at 4:58 pm
I think it was fair to be cautious with the Brady move – few, if any left New England and remained at their previous level. Belichick was a master at ditching players who were at their peak, just ready to drop off. I was against the move at the time and I’m happy to admit I was wrong.
September 5th, 2025 at 3:54 pm
Tony dungy was not the head coach he didn’t call no plays and he didn’t draft Sapp and brooks