Tom Brady is joining the Buccaneers (per reports), but fans should wait before purchasing a No. 12 jersey.
No, not because Brady is suddenly going to have a change of heart. He's going to play for the Buccaneers. But for a number of other reasons that we'll explain below.
The Buccaneers are getting new uniforms
You may have seen a number of jersey swaps placing Brady in a Buccaneers uniform following Tuesday night's news. We even did our own.
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But Brady won't look like that in a Tampa Bay uniform — because the Bucs are moving on from those jerseys in the near future.
"We have heard the feedback from our fans loud and clear and have been working with the NFL and our league partners at Nike to usher in a new look as we enter this next decade of Buccaneers football," Bucs owner Ed Glazer said in late February. "We look forward to revealing more details in the near future about our official unveiling event which will take place later this spring."
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When are the Buccaneers getting new uniforms?
The team announced in late February new uniforms will be revealed some time in April, 2020. The team has been mostly quiet about what the uniforms will look like except for adding, "2020 will bring a new set of uniform enhancements, based on what Buccaneer fans want to see."
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What will the Buccaneers new uniforms look like?
Paul Lukas of Uni-Watch.com said earlier this month the new uniforms were shown to him "by an industry source." Lukas added, "I did a fair amount of vetting to confirm the source’s credibility, and it’s clear to me that what he showed me are indeed the team’s new uniforms."
The images above are not from a direct source, but rather renderings of what Lukas remembers about the jerseys. So while not official, it's a close representation of what they'll look like.
MORE: Why did Tom Brady leave the Patriots?
What will Tom Brady look like in the new Buccaneers jersey?
Lukas rendered that up in the image above.
Chris Godwin already owns No. 12
Another reason to wait and see on Brady's jersey is the fact we're not 100-percent sure he'll be wearing No. 12 with the Bucs.
Chris Godwin is a Pro Bowl receiver who has "twelve" in his Twitter handle. He has no obligation to give Brady his jersey number. He may be willing to just so him and his new quarterback don't get off on the wrong foot, but he's not required to.
Brady has quite literally made TB12 his brand, so it seems likely he'd at least try to get Godwin to give him his number. But as of right now, we just don't know.
