“Really Jon, Derek Carr?” (Photo from @BarstoolGruden.)
Joe saw pictures from earlier this week of former Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Chucky hanging with former Bucs Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady at the Tampa Theatre when 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.
In the spring of 2020, Brady was a free agent. The unofficial version of the story of how Brady came to the Bucs was that Brady had his sights set 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