Rumor Claims Tension Grew Between Tom Brady, Bruce Arians & Byron Leftwich Over Past Season

Updated: Sep 10, 5:00pm UTC

The relationship between Tom Brady and Bruce Arians started off rocky, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach wasn't afraid to call out the future Hall-of-Famer during his first season in town. The two eventually got on the same page, though, and capped off the 2020 season with a Super Bowl win.

Brady's surprise retirement after this past season made some wonder why he called it quits. Well, a recent rumor suggests tension between the QB and head coach was growing.

Former New England Patriots player Rich Ohrnberger weighed in on the situation, relating "some interesting things" he has heard recently regarding the Brady-Arians dynamic. Ohrnberger says the relationship was "souring" over the past season.

He then went on to explain that while Arians was busy rehabbing his achilles injury this year, Brady and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich would devise that week's game plan. Then Arians would sit down and essentially rework their entire script, which led to "tension" as Brady and Leftwich were left feeling "undermined."

There's certainly a lot to unpack here. First off, Ohrnberger doesn't explicitly say the frustrations on Brady's behalf led to his retirement. There were likely several factors at play, but it's easy to see how this tension could make Brady lean one way.

It's also worth wondering how much insight Ohrnberger really has as someone with no direct ties to the Buccaneers. And if Leftwich truly wasn't happy working under Arians, it would've been easy for him to get a similar position somewhere else this offseason.

Still, Arians' strong personality hasn't been everyone's cup of tea during his coaching career, so there could be some truth to this rumor. The situation is worth monitoring as Tampa Bay holds out hope of changing Brady's mind to return for the 2022 campaign.

Isaiah De Los Santos is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Isaiah De Los Santos also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username zayyy05328. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.