Tim Benz: 4 reasons why Antonio Brown-Tom Brady reunion in Tampa Bay won't work - TribLIVE

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Once his signing becomes official, future Hall of Famer Tom Brady is heading to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Speculation is rampant that former Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown will be joining him.

As @TomPelissero and I discussed on TV, the word among teams interested in Tom Brady were among the impression that Brady wanted to bring Antonio Brown with him to a new team. Brown is still under investigation, and remains to be seen when he can play. But Brady is close with him

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 18, 2020

After all, Brady has reportedly been staying in touch with Brown throughout the offseason. It has been said that Brady has been pitching Brown to teams he considered when leaving the Patriots.

Don’t forget, Brady and Brown did have that one glorious week together in New England last season.

IT'S HAPPENED!

Brady ➡️ Brown

Touchdown Number 1… pic.twitter.com/AgntF8U6qj

— NFL UK (@NFLUK) September 15, 2019

After Brown got released for allegedly threatening a woman who was accusing him of sexual misconduct, no team has signed him.

That’s because the NFL is clearly trying to stall out Brown, by dragging its feet on the investigation as to what his suspension may be on the allegations.

So, theoretically, yes. Mr. Big Chest could join the Bucs.

Theoretically.

Here are four reasons why the Buccaneers shouldn’t do that.

B.A. versus A.B

Here’s a popular connection being thrown around.

Just saying: Bruce Arians coached Antonio Brown in Pittsburgh.

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) March 17, 2020

Ok, Albert, I gotta get in on this. What odds will you give me against that?

And, if I lose, I want to go double-or-nothing on it ending quicker than it did in either New England or Oakland.

Right. Arians coached Brown in Pittsburgh.

To this day, though, Brown resents Arians because he insists Arians never considered Brown to be a high-end player. Brown has always been under the assumption that Arians liked Emmanuel Sanders better from that 2010 draft class.

And, during Brown’s infamous meltdown upon leaving the Steelers, Arians was critical of Brown.

There’s no way Brown has forgotten that.

Like everything else in Brown’s life, upon being signed, he may apologize for fanning the flames of the feud. But at the first sign of distress — or distrust — between Arians and Brown, you know darned well, Brown will spark things up again and the house will burn down.

When is he going to play, anyway?

As we mentioned earlier, do the Buccaneers really want to wait out the NFL when it comes to reinstating Brown?

Do they want to withhold cap dollars in free agency or adjust draft planning based on the assumption that they may have Brown at some point this year?

And even if the NFL does allow Brown to play in 2020, there is no clue how many games into the season he will be sidelined.

Do the Bucs really want Mr. Blonde Mustache on their roster, sitting idle until he is allowed to play for a fraction of the season?

I shudder at the thought.

Spread the wealth

Brady is still good. Not as good as he used to be. But good.

Hoiwever, even at the height of his powers, Brady couldn’t figure out how to throw two footballs at once.

Deflating the footballs is one thing. Throwing two at the same time is something else.

It just looked like Brady was doing that against the Steelers defense at times over the years.

However, Brady may need to learn that trick to keep all of his receivers happy if Brown comes on board.

Think about it. Brown got testy when he had to share the ball — mildly — with one guy who was still a clear-cut second receiver in JuJu Smith-Schuster.

How do you think he’s going to react when he’s got to share targets with the likes of established standouts such as Chris Godwin (121 targets) and Mike Evans (118 targets)?

And if Brown is instantly installed as Brady’s go-to guy, how will either Evans or Godwin react to being demoted to third-receiver status?

I’ll just be over here watching. Pass the popcorn.

It won’t last

You know how this is gonna go, right?

Mr. Cryo Feet is going to arrive. It’s going to be sunshine and daisies for a week or two. He is going to practice hard and say all the right things.

Then, probably even before his first game, he is going to show up late for a meeting, get charged with something, tweet something insane, get into an argument with Arians, or claim that Brady has “an owner’s mentality” like Ben Roethlisberger.

Remember when he said that about Big Ben? What’s he going to think about Brady after a little while?

Naturally, Roethlisberger may have gotten some special treatment with the Steelers.

Brady, though, was practically a shareholder with the Patriots. And Brady is far more vocal and “in your face” on the sidelines than Roethlisberger is. Brown doesn’t react well to that.

No doubt, Brady loves A.B. now.

Just wait until the first time Brown demands the ball while the Bucs are down by 10 points in the fourth quarter, so that he can get some sort of cheesy personal record.

Gimme some more popcorn! It won’t have time to get stale.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@tribweb.com or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.

Categories: Sports | Steelers/NFL | Breakfast With Benz