Rumor Surfaces Of Sour Relationship Between Tom Brady And Bruce Arians, Prior To QB's Abrupt Retirement
BOSTON (CBS) -- Tom Brady's entire retirement process was ... weird. To say the least.
Seemingly out of nowhere, some smoke about a potential retirement arose when the Bucs began their postseason run. Less than a week after the Bucs were eliminated, CBS Sports reported that a retirement announcement would be coming soon. ESPN reported a day later that the retirement was happening. Then Brady's father, agent, and employers pushed back, saying the QB was nowhere close to making a decision. A few days later, Brady officially announced it himself ... with just an Instagram post.
Certainly, it was all a bit sloppy. And weird.
Now, there's a rumor making the rounds that might explain why.
Rich Ohrnberger -- a former NFL offensive lineman who played with Brady in New England in 2009 and 2010 -- tweeted that he had "heard" that the relationship between Brady and Bucs head coach Bruce Arians had soured, and that was the leading reason for Brady retiring so abruptly.
"Heard some interesting things recently... The Tom Brady & Bruce Arians honeymoon was over in Tampa," Ohrnberger tweeted. "The retirement announcement wasn't because of the trouble seeing eye to eye on the offensive game planning, but the relationship was souring."
Ohrnberger added that Brady felt "undermined" when Arians would change the plans laid out by the QB and offensive coordinator, Byron Leftwich.
"Apparently, while Arians was rehabbing the Achilles in the early mornings, offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and Brady would work on the week's game plan," Ohrnberger tweeted. "Arians would later come in and take the red pen to work they'd done. The QB and OC felt undermined, there was tension."
Ohrnberger later expanded on this on XTRA 1360, saying his information came from "a guy who's pretty embedded with the Bucs."
"Throughout the course of the season, real animosity started percolating between Brady and Arians -- between Leftwich, Brady, and Arians," Ohrnberger said. "It just turned into this thing where it's like, 'Listen, you're coming in late to the party and you're trying to make waves in the work we've done?'"
Obviously, such talk is unconfirmed. But it could help explain the whole retirement mess. And it also might explain why Brady offered a "never say never" answer when asked if he might actually play again.
Brady and Arians have not always meshed perfectly in Tampa, but a bye week meeting in 2020 reportedly led to Arians ceding a lot of control of the offense over to Brady. The team was 7-5 at the time but never lost again en route to a Super Bowl victory.
This year, outside of Brady's confusion to an odd timeout call by Arians late in a win over Buffalo ...
... there hasn't been much reported on their relationship. That was until Ohrnberger spilled that nugget into the Twittersphere.
