New Buccaneers receiver Russell Gage was taking out the trash on Monday when his phone rang — and to his surprise, it was Tom Brady.
“For a minute, I thought it was a prank, somebody was trying to pull one on me,” Gage said Friday during his introductory press conference in Tampa.
When Brady called — on the first day of the NFL’s legal tampering period — Gage was consulting with his agent about where to take his talents next.
“He just told me about what they have here in Tampa Bay and that he wanted me to be a part of it, that they have something really special going on. Honestly, he didn’t have to say much. He definitely had me hooked on it after that. … It was definitely special,” said Gage, who didn’t have a relationship with Brady, 44, prior to the call.
“I had just seen some fake news on social media so my mind was kind of on fake news, so then when I got the call it was kind of like, ‘All right.’ I’m in a state of shock and I’m stuck between, ‘OK, this is unreal,’ and ‘This is not funny!’ Just trying to navigate my way through that, and then as we got going, I realized, ‘OK, this is something serious,'” Gage recalled.
Gage, 26, eventually signed with the Buccaneers in free agency after spending the last four years in Atlanta, where he caught 66 passes for 770 yards last season.
“I had conversations with teams and offers and whatnot, but this was just completely different. This was like no other. It was a huge blessing. I was 3 years old when Tom Brady got into the NFL, so to hear from somebody like that, just seeing the other day that he unretired and now he’s reaching out to me? It was unreal,” the former LSU product said.
Gage said he realized “probably midway through” the call that the Brady effect is indeed real, and not an elaborate prank.
Previously, Gage faced Brady twice a year over the past two seasons. He last played against Brady and the Buccaneers in Week 13 and recorded a career-best 130 receiving yards.
Brady, meanwhile, announced last Sunday that he plans to return to Tampa Bay for his 23rd season — 40 days after he had claimed he was retiring.
It appears as though the quarterback had a change of heart due to “unfinished business,” according to his announcement on social media.
It’s unclear what business Brady needs to tend to since he led the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl title in his first season in Tampa, and an NFC South championship last season.
Brady, who turns 45 in August, led the NFL last season in yards passing (5,316), touchdowns (43), completions (485), and attempts (719).
It’s still unclear if Brady’s longtime target, tight end Rob Gronkowski, will return for another season.