D4 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2020 LATIMES.COM/SPORTS
NFL
While the unimaginable
has happened to New Eng-
land Patriots fans, the pre-
dictable has occurred for
New Orleans Saints fans:
Drew Breesis staying put.
Tom Brady is leaving the
Patriots, but Brees made
things, well, easy for the
Saints, making it clear he
wasn’t leaving New Orleans
or Sean Payton’s offense de-
spite having his contract run
out.
Brees, 41, agreed to a two-
year, $50-million contract, a
person familiar with the sit-
uation said. The person
spoke to the Associated
Press on condition of ano-
nymity on Tuesday because
the deal has not been an-
nounced.
The 19-year veteran with
one Super Bowl title in New
Orleans basically gave a
hometown discount to the
Saints. His deal will not put
him in the top 10 quarter-
backs for annual salary. But
the career leader in comple-
tions with 6,867, yards pass-
ing with 77,416, and touch-
downs with 547 believes New
Orleans offers the best place
for him to win another cham-
pionship.
Brees missed five games
with a throwing hand injury
that required surgery last
season but still helped New
Orleans to a third straight
playoff appearance.
Newton out,
Bridgewater in
The Carolina Panthers
took another step toward a
rebuilding process when
they announced they’d allow
former MVP quarterback
Cam Newton to seek a trade.
Newton has missed 16
games the last two seasons
with shoulder and foot in-
juries, and the Panthers
made a coach change this
offseason, firing Ron Rivera
and hiring Baylor’s Matt
Rhule.
To replace Newton, the
Panthers are set to sign
Teddy Bridgewater, ac-
cording to multiple reports.
Bridgewater, a former start-
er with Minnesota, served as
a spot starter and backup to
Brees for the last two sea-
sons.
Elsewhere
8 Jason Witten is headed
to Las Vegas, where Jon
Gruden is the coach. Coinci-
dentally, Witten replaced
Gruden as the analyst on
ESPN’s “Monday Night
Football” in 2018, then went
back to play again with the
Cowboys.
Witten turns 38 in May.
He had 63 catches for 529
yards and four touchdowns
last season, and has 1,215
catches for 12,977 yards and
72 touchdowns in 16 seasons
with Dallas.
8 Linebacker Thomas
Davis said he’s reuniting
with former coach Rivera
and signing with the Wash-
ington Redskins. Davis, 36,
played under Rivera with
Carolina for eight seasons
and had the best years of his
career.
8 Philadelphia won’t be
keeping star safety Malcolm
Jenkins, who led the Eagles’
defense when it won the 2017
league title.
8 The Chicago Bears re-
leased outside linebacker
Leonard Floyd, chosen
ninth in the 2016 draft. Floyd
contributed against the run
and in pass coverage but did
not develop as a pass rusher.
He had 18^1 ⁄ 2 sacks in four sea-
sons, including a career-low
three last year.
Chicago agreed to a five-
year, $70-million deal with
defensive end Robert
Quinn, who gets $30 million
guaranteed, adding a solid
pass rusher to Khalil Mack.
Quinn had 11^1 ⁄ 2 sacks last
year following a trade to Dal-
las from Miami. He served a
two-game suspension for
violating the NFL’s policy on
performance-enhancers.
8 The Tennessee Titans
added edge rusher Vic
Beasley Jr.on a one-year
deal. The No. 8 overall pick in
the 2015 draft led the NFL
with 15^1 ⁄ 2 sacks in 2016 for the
Falcons. Atlanta declined to
re-sign Beasley after he got
only 18 sacks combined over
the last three seasons.
8 Defensive tackle Jor-
dan Phillipsagreed to sign
with the Arizona Cardinals.
The 6-foot-6, 341-pound
Phillips just finished a
breakout season for the Bills
with a career-high 9^1 ⁄ 2 sacks.
Phillips was claimed off
waivers by Buffalo after he
was released by the Dol-
phins shortly after getting
into a sideline argument
with an assistant coach.
8 The Jacksonville Jag-
uars agreed to terms with
free-agent linebacker Joe
Schobert, who spent the last
four years in Cleveland,
where he led the team in
tackles twice and made a
Pro Bowl. The deal is for
$53.75 million over five years,
and includes $22.5 million
guaranteed.
8 Miami and defensive
end Emmanuel Ogbah
agreed to a $15-million, two-
year contract. Ogbah had
51 ⁄ 2 sacks last year for the Su-
per Bowl champion Kansas
City Chiefs. He also spent
three years with the Cleve-
land Browns and has 18
sacks in four seasons.
8 The New York Giants
reached agreements with
middle linebacker Blake
Martinez and cornerback
James Bradberry. The Gi-
ants also agreed on a deal
with veteran blocking tight
end tight end Levine
Toilolo. New York had one of
the NFL’s worst defenses
last season.
8 Buffalo grabbed Car-
olina defensive end Mario
Addison and New Orleans
linebacker A.J. Klein. The
32-year-old Addison has had
nine or more sacks in each of
his last four seasons. The
28-year-old Klein is proj-
ected to take over for Lo-
renzo Alexander, who re-
tired.
8 Tampa Bay will re-sign
linebacker Jason Pierre-
Paul to a two-year, $27-mil-
lion contract. Pierre-Paul
has 21 sacks since being ac-
quired from the Giants two
years ago. He had 8^1 ⁄ 2 in 10
games last season after re-
covering from a neck injury
suffered in an offseason
automobile accident.AROUND THE LEAGUE
Brees will stay
with the Saints
associated press
PATRIOTS CHAIRMAN AND
CHIEF EXECUTIVE ROBERT KRAFT“How do I possibly sum up the depth of my grati-
tude to Tom Brady for what he’s given us these past
20 years, or the sadness I feel knowing it’s ending? I
love Tom like a son and I always will. He has brought
so much happiness to me personally and to all of our
fans. I had hoped this day would never come, but
rather that Tom would end his remarkable career in a
Patriots uniform after yet another Super Bowl cham-
pionship. Unfortunately, the two sides were unable to
reach an agreement to allow that dream to become a
reality. While sad today, the overwhelming feeling I
have is appreciation for his countless contributions to
our team and community.
“When Tom arrived in New England as an unher-
alded, sixth-round pick, no one could have imagined
the fairytale story that would be written, the records
that would be broken or the joy he would bring to an
entire region. He leaves 20 years later as the winning-
est quarterback in NFL history with six Super Bowl
victories, nine AFC titles and 17 division champi-
onships. He has been an exemplary teammate and
leader. There simply will never be another Tom Brady.
I now look forward to the day we can bring him back
home to New England to celebrate his Patriots career,
his endless achievements and his legacy as the great-
est of all time. I love him very much.”PATRIOTS COACH BILL BELICHICK“Tom was not just a player who bought into our program. He
was one of its original creators. Tom lived and perpetuated our
culture. On a daily basis, he was a tone setter and a bar raiser. He
won championships in three of his first four years on the field and
in three of his final six seasons with us, while competing for
championships in most every season in between. This is a credit
to Tom’s consistency and what separates him. He didn’t just
perform. He didn’t just win. He won championships over and
over again.
“Tom and I will always have a great relationship built on love,
admiration, respect and appreciation. Tom’s success as a player
and his character as a person are exceptional. Nothing about the
end of Tom’s Patriots career changes how unfathomably spec-
tacular it was. With his relentless competitiveness and longevity,
he earned everyone’s adoration and will be celebrated forever. It
has been a privilege to coach Tom Brady for 20 years.
“Examples of Tom’s greatness are limitless, going back even
before he was drafted. We witnessed how he prepared when he
wasn’t playing, how he performed when he got his opportunity,
what he did to continuously improve, his leadership, his mind-
set, the example he set, and, of course, the person he is. I am
extremely grateful for what he did for our team and for me per-
sonally.
“Sometimes in life, it takes some time to pass before truly
appreciating something or someone but that has not been the
case with Tom. He is a special person and the greatest quarter-
back of all time.”WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY ABOUT TOM BRADY
mets. They still desperately
need a lightning bolt of
celebrity and credibility.
Here’s a thought: Create
one.
They were smart in
parting ways with quarter-
back Philip Rivers. They
would be dumb to attempt
to replace him with a
slightly younger version of
Philip Rivers.
Instead of trading for
hobbled Cam Newton or
signing horrific Jameis
Winston, the Chargers need
to bite the bullet and start
from scratch by acquiring a
potential new star.
In following the blue-
print drawn up by the first-
round drafting of impact
player Derwin James and
Joey Bosa, they need to use
their No. 6 overall pick on a
quarterback.
Maybe it’s Utah State’s
Jordan Love. Possibly it
could be Oregon’s Justin
Herbert. Or maybe they
trade up to nab Alabama’s
Tua Tagovailoa.
The new kid would beginroots.
After spending 20 years
in a spotlight of one of the
greatest dynasties in profes-
sional sports history, did
Tom Brady really want to
end his career in the shad-
ows? With clearly the No. 2
team in his own town?
Forced to be as much a
soap-box salesman as drop-
back quarterback?
Did he really want to play
his final year in what might
feel like a season full of road
games? Does the greatest
quarterback ever want to
end his career feeling like
he’s not even the most
cheered quarterback in his
own city?
Before any star consid-
ers signing with the Char-
gers, they should talk to
Chris Paul, a future Hall of
Fame guard who played
wonderfully for six years for
the Clippers — and was still
booed at Dodger Stadium.
The Rams aren’t the Lak-
ers, far from it, but it is a
vastly different world when
you play for this town’s
“second” team.
Brady is making a huge
mistake leaving the Patri-
ots. He should have ended
his career there. His endur-
ing New England legacy
would have been worth
whatever money he would
have been losing. The over-
whelming love Los Angeles
showed for the late Kobe
Bryant should remind any
athlete that becoming a
permanent part of a com-
munity matters.
Brady will now end his
playing days underneath a
pirate flag for a historically
nutty franchise in an unfa-
miliar town. At 42 and with
declining skills, he risks
becoming Joe Namath with
the Rams, or Johnny Unitas
with the San Diego Char-
gers. He should have stayed
in New England where he
would have forever been
Tom Brady.
As for the Chargers, the
one thing they’re still miss-
ing is the one thing that is
plastered across their hel-the season behind Tyrod
Taylor, but maybe not for
long. The new kid would
mark a new era of Chargers
football at SoFi. The new
kid might actually be the
one to finally stop people
from accidentally referring
to them as the San Diego
Chargers.
He would not only be a
game changer, but a namechanger.
The Chargers need to
discover someone who can
eventually solidify a season-
ticket base, cement their
Los Angeles footprint, and
maybe even steal enough
thunder from the Rams to
turn the city into a legiti-
mate two-team town.
It’s not going to be Tom
Brady. It was never going tobe Tom Brady.
Give them credit them
for trying. It gave them a few
precious moments in the
spotlight. For a while there,
they were even trending on
social media.
Now it’s back to the
shadows, back to the
search, focus on the draft,
cross their fingers, and hope
for the bolt.Chargers need star of own
[Plaschke, from D1]
TUA TAGOVAILOAmight be a nice fit with the Chargers with the No. 6 pick.Butch DillAssociated Presscoached future Hall of Fame
quarterback Peyton Man-
ning, who similarly changed
franchises late in his career
— from Indianapolis to
Denver — and reached two
Super Bowls with the Bron-
cos, winning one.
By all accounts and his
past behavior, Brady’s
decision did not hinge on
money. The indications are
he wanted to be as close as
possible to his wife, super-
model Gisele Bundchen,
and family in New York, and
wanted the chance to win.
Even with Drew Brees
lurking in New Orleans, the
NFC South is more win-
nable for the Buccaneers
than the AFC West is for the
Chargers, who were winless
in their division last season.
Tampa Bay finished 7-9 last
season, with quarterback
Jameis Winston compiling
33 touchdown passes and an
NFL-high 30 interceptions.
As for the offensive line,
Tampa Bay is decent, withits only pressing need at
right tackle. The Bucca-
neers have the 14th pick in
this year’s draft and enough
salary-cap space to maneu-
ver, even after signing
Brady. They need a pass-
catching running back,
which they can pick up in
the draft or free agency. The
receiving tandem of Mike
Evans and Chris Godwin far
exceeds anything Brady has
had in New England, dating
to the Randy Moss era.
Tampa Bay has a star-
studded defense that
doesn’t always play up to its
capabilities but has the
potential to be consistently
outstanding.
It might have been entic-
ing to Brady that the free-
wheeling Arians is the an-
tithesis of Belichick, who is
wound tighter than a pin-
point spiral.
The Buccaneers have
gone 12 years without mak-
ing the playoffs, but Brady
could be the first quarter-
back to win a Super Bowl onhis home field, as the game
will be in Tampa next Feb-
ruary.
The Chargers and
Raiders were both in the
Brady derby at one point
and, coincidentally, the
Buccaneers will play both
teams this season. They will
face the Chargers in Tampa,
and Raiders in Las Vegas —
a game that will pit the
offensive wits of Brady and
Raiders coach Jon Gruden.
Those two occupy a place in
NFL history on either side of
the “Tuck Rule” game, a
bitter playoff defeat by
Gruden’s Raiders and a
seminal moment in the rise
of the Patriots’ dynasty.
(Gruden also coached the
Buccaneers to their only
Super Bowl victory.)
Some Tampa Bay fans
won’t exhale until the Brady
deal is signed, sealed and
delivered. No franchise has
been left at the altar by stars
more than the Buccaneers.
That goes for both
coaches and players whocame oh-so-close to don-
ning the throwback orange
and white before their re-
solve melted like a Cream-
sicle in the sun.
Bo Jackson was drafted
No. 1 overall by the Bucca-
neers in 1986 but refused to
play for them after a flight to
their headquarters cost
him his college baseball
eligibility.
Green Bay came so close
to trading Brett Favre there,
it led to one of those embar-
rassing “Dewey Defeats
Truman” headlines in a
Florida paper that was sure
the Packers great was on
the way.
Steve Spurrier almost
coached Tampa Bay. So did
Jimmy Johnson, Steve
Mariucci, Chip Kelly and Bill
Parcells — twice.
So for ardent and sea-
soned Buccaneers backers,
while others got caught up
in the Brady hysteria, their
enthusiasm was tempered
by history. It’s not done until
it’s done.TOM BRADYand coach Bill Belichick teamed for six Super Bowl victories in New England. Now Brady will
be coached in Tampa Bay by Bruce Arians, who isn’t wound quite as tightly as Belichick.Charles KrupaAssociated PressNew feeling for Tampa Bay
[Farmer, from D1]