The Biggest Hurdle In The Way Of Tom Brady's Return May Now Be Gone

Mike Ehrmann. Getty Images.

It's been an interesting month for Tom Brady return rumors and this is clue #3 in the last three weeks. We of course had Brady's creamsicle jersey, which he never wore before, being sold in the Buccaneers Official Team Store. The Buccaneers plan to unveil their throwbacks October 15th against the Lions, but never wore those jerseys during the Brady era, so having them in the official pro shop was a bit odd. Then we had Bucs Safety Antoine Winfield saying that he's pretty sure the front office keeps in touch with Brady and that he'd love to have him back stating that anything is possible. But this felt all for naught as the biggest hurdle would be his commitment to join ownership of the Raiders. A person who is a part owner of a team cannot legally play in games as a player.

But now we have this nugget from Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk via Dov Kleiman that reveals the entire Brady/Raiders ownership thing may not work out at all. 

If this deal is off the table and Brady is not going to be an owner, and Gisele is out of the picture, and he put off his partnership with FOX to call games for at least a year, what is to stop Tom Brady from returning to the field? The Buccaneers haven't named a starting Quarterback. The NFC South is WIDE OPEN with Derek Carr being the only established Quarterback in the division. Could this actually be happening? I'm starting to believe so…