Bruce Arians believes the “real Tom Brady” wasn’t present last season.
The former Buccaneers coach, who retired from the sidelines in March 2022 to join the team’s front office, said two things contributed to Tampa Bay’s struggles last season: injuries and “all the things” that Brady was dealing with presumably in his personal life.
During a Wednesday appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show,” Arians said Brady “wasn’t himself” last season — also citing injuries to “key leaders” in center Ryan Jensen and pass rusher Shaq Barrett.
“The injuries to our leaders was really, really hard,” Arians said. “Tom wasn’t himself, you know, with all the things that were going on. And I got to give him all the credit in the world for battling through what he went through last year for his teammates. I think the world of him but it wasn’t the real Tom Brady out there.”
Brady’s 23rd season was his most challenging campaign both on and off the field. The quarterback went through a public divorce with his ex-wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, and faced constant questions about retirement as the Buccaneers’ struggled with injuries.
In September, Page Six was first to report that Brady and Bündchen were navigating martial issues, with a source saying that the supermodel was not happy with Brady’s decision to come out of retirement. That came after Brady took a mysterious 11-day absence from training camp, which he said was pre-approved by the Buccaneers and was due to him having “a lot of s–t going on.”
Brady and Bündchen later took to social media to share that they finalized their divorce in October after 13 years of marriage. The former couple co-parents their two children, daughter Vivian, 10, and son Benjamin, 13. Brady also shares his 15-year-old son Jack with his ex, actress Bridget Moynahan.
On Feb. 1, Brady announced his retirement “for good” in an emotional video he posted to Twitter and Instagram. It came exactly a year after he announced his first retirement, which made some people hesitant to believe he was really done playing football.
Arians, though, believes Brady hung up his jersey for good.
“I definitely think so,” Arians told Eisen about Brady’s retirement. “He’s spent a lot of time with his kids and just heading to the next chapter. He’s got so many things going on, you know, he’s one busy dude.”
Brady’s retirement announcement came nearly two weeks after he and the Buccaneers were ousted from the playoffs by the Cowboys in the wild-card round.
The 45-year-old seven-time Super Bowl winner will join Fox Sports in 2024 as its lead NFL game analyst alongside Kevin Burkhardt. Brady signed what The Post’s Andrew Marchand reported to be a 10-year, $375 million contract in May to join the network after his playing career concluded.
Arians went on to say that he and Brady had “good laugh” about the quarterback’s impending broadcast gig.
“We had a good laugh about it. I said, ‘Do you know how hard that sh-t is?’” Arians said, recalling a prior conversation with Brady. “You’ve got to work, man… I said now, the one thing you’ll have that I didn’t have, you’ll be flying private.”
Arians spent a year in the CBS’ broadcast booth in 2018 before he returned to coaching with the Buccaneers in 2019.
“I loved going to practices on Friday and seeing the guys and meeting the coaches and calling the ballgame, but the travel was woof,” Arians said. “It does, it takes a lot of time, and that’s one thing about Tom, he’s meticulous. He’s going to make sure everything is right and he’ll be more than ready. He’ll do a great job… He doesn’t have to worry about going into overtime and missing his flight home.”