It’s unlikely that he will ever be punished for it, especially considering he is retired from the NFL, but a former Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammate casually revealed that Tom Brady broke an NFL rule during his time with the Buccaneers.
During a recent appearance on the Wam Bam podcast, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers guard Ali Marpet claimed that Tom Brady used to pay the team’s offensive linemen $1,000 out of his own pocket for each successful screen pass that went more than 15 yards.
“[Brady] took our starting offensive line to the side and he’s like, ‘Hey, if you guys can get a screen to go for more than 15 yards, I will give you $1,000 cash each,’” Marpet said according to Pro Football Talk. “‘That is for you guys, so every time that we get that, I will be happy to make that payment.’”
It’s certainly an interesting motivational tactic from Brady, but as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk points out, it’s also technically against the rules.
“The issue of offering players off-the-books incentives became the focal point of the Saints bounty scandal of 2012. Programs like this technically run afoul of NFL’s rules, even when they aren’t premised on potentially incapacitating opponents,” Florio wrote.
“It’s unlikely the NFL will do anything about it. It’s also unlikely that similar incentives aren’t commonly employed on a wink-nod basis within NFL locker rooms.”
This led to a lot of reactions on social media as a result.
Read this strictly cause I knew Florio would bring up the Bounty Scandal https://t.co/6l7Fpu7fWG
— Kyle Dunlevy (@kdunlevy21) April 18, 2024
Love this…… https://t.co/HCwjO9aOzp
— Ty Rogers (@CoachRogers92) April 18, 2024
The rules don’t apply to Tom Brady 🙄
— Davey (@DaveyDaveyGravy) April 18, 2024
How is this different than bountygate?
— 7-2off (@DrewGentry13) April 18, 2024
Does that break salary cap rules? 😂
— Mark (@PromoHack) April 18, 2024
It’s a pretty minor offense, all things considered, so it seems like Brady is going to get away with it.
