How Field of Dreams was used to recruit Tom Brady

Tom Brady made a huge move when he came out of retirement to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The then-six-time Super Bowl champion announced that he would be retiring from the sport in February 2022, only to retract his statement the following month to announce that he would be playing for the Buccaneers for his 23rd season in the NFL.

Last year, while commentating the Philadelphia Eagles-Buccaneers game for FOX, he shared that there were several factors that led to his decision.

“There was a lot of reasons to choose Tampa and I made abut 18 criteria why,” Brady said at the time. “There was things from the salary, obviously, to the weather, the facilities, to how great the players were.”

Brady also made a big reveal when he shared that he was “seriously considering” joining a different NFC team.

“Chicago was a team, and I never told that story before, they were very stealth in their recruitment,” Brady explained. “I was seriously considering them. But, in the end, it came down to Tampa.”

While why Brady chose the Buccaneers makes sense, a recent story published by The Athletic explains the unique way in which the organization convinced the quarterback to join the team.

After John Spytek shared his amazement of Brady’s talent after studying tapes of former quarterbacks such as Drew Brees, Teddy Bridgewater, and Philip Rivers, he went over to Jason Licht with an idea. However, while Licht respected Brady he couldn’t wrap his head around the thought that Brady would leave New England and become a Buc.

However after a couple of days of thinking Licht and Bruce Arians decided it was worth trying to get Brady on board even if though they felt like they didn’t have a chance. According to the publication, that’s when “Licht, Arians, Spytek, Rob McCartney, who was the director of pro scouting at the time, Mike Biehl, the director of college scouting, and Mike Greenberg, who handled contracts” decided to come up with a plan to make Brady a Buc. At the time, only the six of them knew what they were trying to accomplish and that’s when unknowingly the 1989 film Field of Dreams came into play.

“If you build it,” Spytek said of taking advantage of their roster. “He will come.”

“That’s from a movie,” Licht said, referencing Field of Dreams.

After Spytek said the line, they decided to call the plan “Operation Shoeless Joe” after the Shoeless Joe Jackson character in the film. They also called Brady “Shoeless Joe” whenever the team would talk about

Brady wasn’t the only person in “Operation Shoeless Joe” that had a nickname. Licht earned the title of “Ray Kinsella” who is played by Kevin Costner in the film. Costner’s character was the one that built the baseball field that enticed Shoeless Joe to come forth. While Bucs owner Joel Glazer wasn’t a part of the six that helped come up with the plan he was referred to as the character “Terrance Mann” who was portrayed by James Earl Jones. That character disappeared with Shoeless Joe into the cornfield.

In the end, the operation worked. Brady told the Bucs that he would play for them which would end his time in New England. Spytek told the outlet that he picked up his phone on the way to work and later saw that Brady made the official announcement that he would be a Buccaneer. Later that day, the organization made it official.

Brady would go on to win a Super Bowl — his seventh and the franchise’s second — before he officially left the NFL for good in 2023.