Bruce Arians, who led the Arizona Cardinals for five seasons from 2013 to 2017, announced his retirement to take the helm of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2019. There wasn’t much success in his first season with the Bucs, but after the 2019 campaign, Arians and the Bucs got to work and managed to get Tom Brady, the largest fish in the water, to help spearhead the charge. Brady’s acquisition by the Bucs paid off, as the team went on to win their second Lombardi Trophy in the team’s first season with Brady and Arians together.
Arians unexpectedly announced his retirement from the Buccaneers after the 2021 campaign, selecting Todd Bowles, the team’s defensive coordinator at the time, to take over as head coach. As previously said, the Buccaneers’ surprising retirement decision left many fans perplexed as to why he would take a break from the game at this particular moment. Arians had his explanations, of course, but something about it never felt quite right. Arians once again attempted to correct the record regarding his choice to retire at the age of fifty in an interview with Rock Riley for The Rock Stops Here podcast. Arians stated, “For me, it was time; health played a small role.”
“That previous year, you know, I tore my Achilles. With certain problems, it was becoming more difficult to watch from the sidelines after four hours of standing outside. I didn’t like Todd Bowles and Byron Leftwich being overlooked that year, so I just felt it was time. I really believed that both of them should be head coaches. You know, a great deal of consideration was given to that choice. It was just, I believe, the right time for all of us when we did it. When he first announced his retirement, Arians said that he felt better than he had in a while. This is not the same Arians citing his health as a basis for his decision. Include the fact that
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