NFC Notes: Tom Brady, Buccaneers, Falcons, Saints

Tom Brady

Buccaneers QB Tom Brady acknowledged that he doesn’t have a lot of time left for his NFL career, but still feels he has “some more football in me.”

“I’ve got some more football in me. Not a lot, and I know that, but what I’ve got left, I’m going to give everything I’ve got,” said Brady, via Good Morning America. 

Brady added that he felt motivated last season to prove he can still be an elite quarterback at 43-years old. 

“I was always kind of motivated by people that say ‘you can’t do it.’ You know, ‘you’re not good enough, you’re not fast enough, not big enough, you’re not good enough arm,’” Brady said. “I’ve had a body of work over a period of time, so you know, you just say, hey [and] quickly you forget.”

Brady continued that he is still eager to prove himself with the Buccaneers in 2021. 

“I think that’s a great part about football. It’s not really about what you did last year, it’s kind of what you’re going to do this year, so for me, it was what I was going to do for the Bucs last year. I still feel that way.”

Brady added that being the “new guy” in Tampa Bay was a big change after being a “mainstay” with the New England Patriots. 

“You know when you’re at the Patriots, everyone would always come to me and introduce themselves to me because I was kind of the mainstay,” Brady said. “But I was the new guy for the first time, you know, and that was a really different experience.”

Brady had high praise of Buccaneers HC Bruce Arians, who he called a talented motivator and talent evaluator with a strong locker room presence. 

“He’s a great motivator — he’s got a great feel for the team — a great pulse for what’s going on in a locker room, great intuition, great evaluation of talent,” Brady said. “When you’re in one place for 20 years, you think that’s the only way, and I think when you go to a different place you realize, ‘wow — there’s another way that people do things.'”

Falcons

Ever since the Falcons’ historic collapse in the Super Bowl, the team has struggled to live up to the expectations placed on them due to their talent level. Fixing that is one of new HC Arthur Smith‘s top tasks but it’s not exactly as tangible a problem to wrap around as needing a new starting guard or improving the defensive scheme. Smith says from his view it looked like the team may have lacked confidence in the past. 

“For whatever reason, doubt crept in, like they were waiting for something bad to happen,” Smith said via the Athletic’s Jeff Schultz. “I’ve been on bad football teams that were not confident. But [with the Titans] when we got into one-score games, we thought we were going to win. We did. That was our mentality. It comes down to guys being confident situationally and trusting each other. It’s just a mentality.”

• North Carolina WR Dazz Newsome has met with virtually every team so far except for the Cowboys, Texans, Falcons and Bengals. (Justin Melo) 

Saints

• The Athletic’s Katherine Terrell says not to rule out an aggressive move up from the Saints if they think they have a shot at a long-term starting quarterback, though they’re way back at No. 28 in the first round right now. 
• Terrell thinks the Saints are going to rely on internal options at defensive end, including Marcus Davenport and Carl Granderson.
• Their other big needs are at cornerback and linebacker, which Terrell thinks New Orleans could address in the draft. She doesn’t anticipate any free agent signings until after June 1 when the team clears a little more cap space and additions don’t affect the compensatory pick formula. 
• Terrell says Saints RT Ryan Ramczyk will absolutely sign a record deal for a right tackle. The big question is whether he will top the current $23 million a year mark for left tackles. 
• The NFLPA released its calculations for the performance-based pay benefit that was eliminated in 2020 but will still be paid by teams. Each team split $8.5 million between its players and payments are deferred to 2024. 
• The top Saints player was DB Chauncey Gardner-Johnson ($549,038).
• Mississippi State QB KJ Costello has met virtually with the Saints. (Crissy Froyd)
• Auburn WR Eli Stove, who also returns kicks and punts and played gunner on special teams, has met virtually with the Saints. (Justin Melo)