2020 Season
In his first year as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Tom Brady threw for 4,633 yards and 40 touchdowns, en route to yet another Super Bowl victory, this time over the Kansas City Chiefs. This was the perfect ending to a fantastic year, both in real life and in the fantasy realm. Brady was being taken, on average, as the QB9 and was drafted around the 8th round or later. He didn’t blow his ADP out of the water and finish as a top-3 QB, but he did return value, finishing as the QB8. He averaged 21.9 fantasy points per game and played in all 16 regular-season games.
While a QB can be good during the fantasy regular season, we all know it’s the playoff performances that matter the most. Over the final two games of the fantasy playoffs, Brady scored 23.4 and 29.9 in the semi-finals and finals, respectively. He was very consistent over the entire season and gave you a very good game in your fantasy championship - what else could you ask for?
Off-season Hype
Over the offseason, the Buccaneers’ objective was simple - bring back everyone and run it back. The Bucs re-signed all of its starters on offense (and defense) from last season, and also brought in Giovani Bernard from the Bengals to give Brady another weapon. The most notable addition from this years’ draft was offensive lineman Robert Hainset out of Notre Dame who will help rotate in at right guard to protect Brady.
The reigning Super Bowl champs will now get a full “regular” offseason to train and practice together, which is scary considering they looked great for much of last season. Antonio Brown only played in 8 regular-season games last season and now gets a full offseason to train and get more in-synch with Brady.
2021 Outlook
Those that were out on Brady last year because of his poor finale in New England will surely have a different opinion entering the 2021 season, however, the ADP has not reflected this yet. Even with his great regular and postseason stats from 2020, Brady’s ADP is similar to last years’ due to him being a one-dimensional player, which is a mistake. He is currently being selected anywhere between the 9th and 11th QB off the board.
While Brady doesn’t have any rushing upside, the way the offense operates more than makes up for it. It’s no secret that the Bucs have a poor rushing attack; Brady airs the ball out all game and can give you almost 300 yards a game and a couple of touchdowns per game at a minimum. The Buccaneers would like to be more balanced to give Brady a break considering the extra regular-season game, but they should be fairly pass-heavy yet again, and Giovani Bernard will be a great weapon on third down should he be used similar to how James White was in New England. If other young fantasy QBs such as Jalen Hurts and Joe Burrow have a good camp and preseason, as someone who had Brady last year, I’m hoping his ADP slips as I would gladly jump at him in the middle-to-late rounds and be thrilled to have him as my QB1.
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