#Tom Brady is worth the coronavirus risk for Bruce Arians

Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians is one of the oldest coaches in the NFL and has survived three bouts with cancer. He is well-aware of the risks involved with continuing to coach during the coronavirus pandemic. He is also seemingly well-aware that opportunities like the one he has now don’t come often.

“I got to be real careful,” Arians, 67, told the Tampa Bay Times as he prepares to coach Tom Brady after the quarterback left the Patriots for Tampa Bay after two decades this offseason.

“I’ll probably double with a mask and a [face] shield. You know, because l already had my scare out there [in Arizona] once a couple of years ago. For me personally, I’ve got a plan and I just have to be smart enough to stay with it.”

Brady has not exercised much caution this offseason. Recently, Brady posted videos of himself working out with teammates, which was in violation of NFLPA recommendations and drew the ire of the union.

Arians said he has already held conversations with members of his team to emphasize the importance of adhering to the guidelines before the team meets for training camp. Within the team facilities, director of athletic performance Greg Skaggs is responsible for setting the safety protocols and procedures.

“Skaggs is on top of this,” Arians said. “He’s done a great job with all our protocols. I brought the staff in for that reason, to make sure they all bought into the protocols, that we all walked the right way in the hallways and had our masks on. I jumped on a bunch of their asses because the players aren’t going to do it if we don’t do it.”

Still, Arians admits that there’s not much the players can do to avoid contracting coronavirus.

“Tom is probably the healthiest one of all of us,” Arians said. “We’ve got to be careful. The players, they’re going to all get sick, that’s for sure. It’s just a matter of how sick they get.”