'Door is never closed' if Tom Brady wants to return to Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but Bruce Arians, Jason Licht prepared to move on

INDIANAPOLIS — Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians and general manager Jason Licht said Tuesday that while they will leave the door open for a possible return for quarterback Tom Brady, who will remain under contract despite retiring, but they are preparing to move on without him this offseason.

«That door is never closed. Whenever Tom wants to come back, he's back. If Tom wants to come back, we'll have plenty of money for him,» Arians said to reporters at the NFL scouting combine, adding that the two continue to stay in touch, as do Brady and Licht.

«I think with a Tom Brady, I personally, never want to completely close the door,» Licht said. «Now, I don't have any information that suggests that he is going to come back. I'm very good friends with him. We talk, (but) we haven't talked about that. Don't want to apply any pressure in that regard right now. But, he's Tom Brady. If a Tom Brady wants to come back, we'd welcome him back.»

Arians expressed less optimism than Licht about a possible comeback, even though Brady hasn't closed the door publicly on a return, and even discussed it on his Sirius XM «Let's Go!» podcast because of the reasons Brady retired — primarily to spend more time with his family.

«He slammed the door shut when I talked to him,» Arians said with a chuckle. «I think like a lot of these guys, he likes to have his name out there.»

Arians admitted he was surprised when Brady announced his retirement, despite reports suggesting it might happen.

«Every time I met with him, he felt fantastic,» Arians said. «I kept asking him, 'How you feel? How you feel?' He said, 'It's the best I felt in 10 years.' After Week 16. The way he was playing, I had myself convinced he was coming back. Then when we talked,