Jason Licht: We’ll leave the light on for Tom…

Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians said he would be shocked if quarterback Tom Brady decided to play during the 2022 season, but General Manager Jason Licht sounded more measured about the prospect of Brady’s return on Tuesday.

During an appearance on NFL Network from the Scouting Combine, Licht said that the team is “trying to make our plans to move forward” before adding “if that’s the case that we need to move forward.” That suggested there’s some thought that Brady will reverse course on retirement and Licht closed out his interview by saying that the team isn’t going to slam the door on that prospect.

“We’ll see what the future holds,” Licht said. “We’ll leave the light on. You always leave the light on for a guy like Tom Brady.”

Brady’s done his part to create uncertainty about his future plans, including whether he’d be more inclined to keep playing if he were going to be on a different team for the 2022 season. For now, though, Brady is retired and the Bucs have to make other arrangements to make sure they have the quarterback position squared away for the fall.