Tom Brady looks more like GOAT than 43 in post-birthday Buccaneers camp practice

Vinnie Iyer

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Tom Brady looks more like GOAT than 43 in post-birthday Buccaneers camp practice image

Tom Brady's belated celebration for his 43rd birthday should give Buccaneers fans more than 43 reasons to throw an NFL season-long party in 2020. A morning after turning a year older, Brady gave Tampa Bay-area media a strong first impression at training camp on Tuesday.

If there were some remaining doubts about Brady strongly rebounding from his final Patriots season — one of the worst for the greatest quarterback of all time — they should have continued to fade with his latest practice. The immediate reports from the Tampa Bay Times, The Athletic and ESPN all came to the conclusion that it was vintage Brady with the command of the Bucs' offense and connection with his Bucs' teammates.

MORE: Complete list of NFL players opting out of 2020 season

The consensus was that Brady's experience and talent showed up every which way, with most of his key offensive weapons on the field with him. The leadership qualities that were evident since Brady conducted early throwing sessions in March simply got ramped up. Brady didn't show any rust related to an unusual offseason, showing strong and accurate throws.

The Patriots let down Brady quite a bit last season with a receiving corps in transition and nothing close to a reliable replacement for tight end Rob Gronkowski. An offensive line breaking down with injuries didn't help, which in turn limited the success of the rushing attack. Brady was still capable of effectively throwing the deep ball, but didn't have the outside targets to take advantage of that. 

Per ESPN, Chris Godwin, the Bucs' best all-around wide receiver, wasn't part of the group working out with Brady, but everyone else was for their two-tight end personnel, with Justin Watson instead of Godwin at wideout. Now consider the important early takeaways:

Brady hasn't been just reunited with Gronkowski, but he has two more receiving tight ends, O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate, who are both much better than the options he had at the position last season. Brady and Gronk are attached at the hip, but Brady is also throwing to Howard and Brate like he's always known them.

Up front, the Buccaneers were fortunate that solid left tackle Donovan Smith decided not to opt out for the season and right tackle Tristan Wirfs has quickly fit right in to nail down the other side of edge pass protection for Brady. In the backfield, the shine of third-round rookie Ke'Shawn Vaughn has dwindled because of injury and the offseason limitations, but there's suddenly more confidence in third-year back Ronald Jones and the signing of LeSean McCoy has infused revered veteran juice into the mix.

Without Godwin, Tuesday's wide receiver spotlight for Brady belonged to Mike Evans. Evans is in the select company of the Chiefs' Tyreek Hill and the Lions' Kenny Golladay as being an elite established big-play threat, averaging 17.7 and 17.3 yards per catch the past two seasons. Brady had no trouble sharply and beautifully dropping passes downfield to Evans in practice.

With the Patriots in 2019, there were plenty of times when Brady looked and played his age of 42. Now he's a year older, but he looks rejuvenated going back to work with an old, familiar friend and new younger guys eager to both learn from him and deliver for him.

With each passing practice, the Bucs should feel a lot more confident that they got the Brady who best resembles the GOAT.

Vinnie Iyer

Vinnie Iyer Photo

Vinnie Iyer, has been with TSN since 1999, not long after graduating from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. He has produced NFL content for more than 20 years, turning his attention to full-time writing in 2007. A native of St. Louis, Mo. but now a long-time resident of Charlotte, N.C. Vinnie’s top two professional sports teams are Cardinals and Blues, but he also carries purple pride for all things Northwestern Wildcats. He covers every aspect of the NFL for TSN including player evaluations, gambling and fantasy football, where he is a key contributor. Vinnie represents TSN as host of the “Locked On Fantasy Football” podcast on the Locked On network. Over his many years at TSN, he’s also written about MLB, NBA, NASCAR, college football, tennis, horse racing, film and television. His can’t-miss program remains “Jeopardy!”, where he was once a three-day champion and he is still avid about crossword puzzles and trivia games. When not watching sports or his favorite game show, Vinnie is probably watching a DC, Marvel or Star Wars-related TV or movie.