What Brady, Rodgers and Wilson’s Picks Could Mean for NFL 2022

Monday morning the Tampa Bay Buccaneers website said it all.

“Tom Brady Is Back!” It read in bold black letters. “Join the Waiting List for the 2022 Season Tickets.”

The headline, of course, referenced Brady’s decision to retire. Less than two months after ending his 22-season NFL career, 44-year-old Brady changed course Sunday night, announcing on social media that he would be returning to the league and Tampa Bay.

“I realized that my place was still on the field, not in the stands,” he wrote.

After Brady’s initial announcement that he was leaving the franchise’s headquarters, Tampa Bay looked like it would need to be rebuilt to have any chance of competing. With Brady, quarterback for a record seven Super Bowl-winning teams, the Buccaneers are in a prime position to compete for their second championship in three seasons instead.

His decision followed news last week that league most valuable player Aaron Rodgers had agreed to stay with the Green Bay Packers, ending a highly publicized rift between Rodgers and the team’s front office. The Denver Broncos also planned to trade for Russell Wilson, a nine-time Pro Bowl selection who spent 10 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks.

A good quarterback has always been the foundation of a healthy franchise, but these three cornerstones helped define the league’s stellar play for their organization in the 2010s and continue to do so in the 2020s. But the turmoil that has enveloped Rodgers and Wilson’s tenures in recent years, and the seismic impact of Brady’s decisions, illustrate the power that passer-by elites have around their teams and the NFL.

“There is a difference between Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson and the vast majority of other quarterbacks in the league,” said Bill Polian, former general manager of the Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. in 2015. “Not all quarterbacks are created equal.”

Below is a look at how each of these NFL key points has to change the landscape of the league.

The return of Tom Brady is an unexpected event for the league.

Tom Brady’s return should be a boon to the NFL, and early statistics have already hinted at that. According to Fanatics, his jersey became a top seller among NFL fans during the 2021 regular season, and within a day of the return announcement, Brady-related products surpassed all athletes in the Fanatics network, according to the online sports retailer.

His return made Brady the logical focus of the Pirates’ talk to potential season ticket buyers who might doubt their playoff chances behind the team’s two backup setters, Kyle Trask or Blaine Gabbert, and a sign that they won’t need a complete rebuild. To compete for the second Super Bowl title since 2020.

The NFL’s program makers probably also took the news as a pleasant surprise. The process of creating the regular season schedule begins in January, and according to conference rotations, 2022 will pit Tampa Bay against the Los Angeles Rams, the Packers and Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City in a Super Bowl LV rematch. The Pirates will also play a match in Germany in the 2022 season.

An NFL spokesperson declined to comment on the marquee games, but Polian said he believed it was inevitable that the Buccaneers would feature prominently in night games during the 2022 season. “I don’t think the program is nearly complete or finished, so they’re going to remake the prime time games that the Bucs are in, which is going to be a lot,” he said.

But Brady’s comeback wasn’t unexpected for everyone: An unnamed fan who declined to be interviewed paid more than $500,000 for the ball on Brady’s final touchdown pass, giving Mike Evans 55 yards in the late fourth quarter from the Buccaneers’ Rams in January. e from division-round playoff losses. The gavel went up for auction on Sunday. Hours later, the memories faded assuming Brady had scored more goals.

Aaron Rodgers made peace in Green Bay.

One of the league’s oldest and best-known teams, the Packers, for the first time out of two seasons, are able to divert their attention to other issues instead of wondering about the temperament of their star quarterback.

Winner of back-to-back Most Valuable Player Awards, Rodgers had entered a year-long legend about his future there with Green Bay before announcing on social media last week that he would be returning to the team for the 2022 season.

Rodgers, 38, drafted by the Packers in the first round in 2005, publicly argued with General Manager Brian Gutekunst and others in the team’s front office over a list of grievances. Rodgers said the organization did not involve him in managerial decisions, that the Packers had been mistreated against his former teammates and was not used to recruit free agents.

Rodgers led the Packers to a 13-4 season in 2021 and their relationship improved even as the chaos that resulted from Rodgers becoming a cultural lightning rod due to his coronavirus vaccination situation emerged off the field. However, it ended in disappointment in the divisional round of the playoffs, with the Packers losing 13-10 to the San Francisco 49ers.

Rodgers’ return was the first chess piece in the team’s off-season plan. Green Bay is entering free agency with salary cap concerns, but Rodgers’ undisclosed contract renegotiation is expected to leave some room for moves Gutekunst must make to re-sign key players. Star catcher Davante Adams said he won’t be playing under the franchise tag this week, and linebacker Preston Smith has reportedly signed a four-year extension worth $52.5 million.

As the Pirates and Packers seek to challenge the Rams’ supremacy, Rodgers’ decision, like Brady’s, keeps the balance of power in the NFC. According to Caesars Sportsbook, the two quarterbacks are back and their teams are betting favorites to win the conference, as are the current rosters. The Packers’ chances could rise even more if Rodgers gets involved in attracting more talent to Green Bay.

Russell Wilson’s new debut in Denver comes at a pivotal moment for the Broncos.

After 10 years in Seattle, Russell Wilson will head to Denver to replace the Broncos’ rotating quarterback roster.

This will be a fresh start for Wilson, who has openly expressed disappointment with Seahawks executives last season due to his desire to be more involved in staffing decisions. With a below-average offensive line, Wilson took multiple sacks and saw many of Seattle’s teammates in back-to-back Super Bowl games in the 2013 and 2014 seasons leave without elevated substitutes.

Wilson missed three games last season due to a toe injury and Seattle endured its first season of defeat since his arrival, forcing both sides to make changes.

Enter the Broncos, who haven’t found a long-term successor since Peyton Manning’s retirement and have started 11 quarterbacks since 2016. The Denver franchise is for sale this off-season and should get new life from the changes in organization. He is expected to lobby for a new stadium in the coming years.

Denver’s excellent receivers and new head coach, former Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, had forced rumors that the Broncos would be Rodgers’ top suitor this off-season. Instead, forwards Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton should capitalize on Wilson’s accuracy and ability to buy time to land on their targets.

They should help reinvigorate the AFC West race, where the Chargers added passer Khalil Mack to an explosive defense and Kansas City’s offense still sets the pace.