Tom Brady comes through on wild Super Bowl promise he apparently made to Chris Godwin in March
(Getty)
When Tom Brady signed with the Buccaneers back in March, he had no idea what number he was going to be, and that’s because the number he usually wears (12) was already taken by Chris Godwin.
Although Godwin was hesitant to give up the number at first, Brady was eventually able to pry it away from him and the 43-year-old apparently did it by making a pretty wild promise: Brady told Godwin he would get him a Super Bowl win.
Godwin revealed that information back IN JUNE when he was asked how much money Brady had to pay him to get No. 12.
Even for Brady, that is QUITE the promise. The original conversation between Godwin and Brady took place back in March after the receiver agreed to give up his number, which means Brady called the victory 11 months in advance.
Yes, Brady already had six Super Bowl rings coming into the season, but it’s not easy to win one, so the fact that he promised one to Godwin is kind of crazy. It’s even crazier that he came through on the promise with a 31-9 win over the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV. Clearly, everyone in Tampa should be thanking Godwin for giving up his jersey number, seeing as Brady obviously only won the game because he’s a man of his word and he didn’t want to break the promise.
Unfortunately for Godwin, he didn’t get to document everything that went on at the Super Bowl parade on Wednesday, because his phone ended up in the water.
The good news for Godwin, though, is that one of his most important moments of the week did get documented and that was the moment where he celebrated the Super Bowl win with his fiancée, Mariah DelPercio.
That’s adorable.
As for Brady getting 12, the deal almost never went down and that’s because Godwin’s original plan was to keep the number.
“My phone has been blowing up over the last 24 hours on Twitter, Instagram, phone calls, text messages of people just asking me that same question,” Godwin said about his number at the time. “I think it will be very interesting whatever happens. We haven’t talked about it. We talked briefly, but hadn’t mentioned that at all. Obviously, if he doesn’t want it or isn’t making a big deal about it, I’m definitely going to keep it. But we’ll see how that goes.”
Brady was so unsure about what was going to happen with the number that he actually made a backup plan. According to Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht, Brady was ready to wear No. 7 if Godwin wasn’t willing to give up 12.
“After we talked and we knew [Brady was going to sign], I said, ‘Hey, there’s one other thing here. It’s a small thing, but maybe a big thing. We have a No. 12 on our team and he’s pretty good — Chris Godwin. What are you thinking about that?'” Licht said. “He said, ‘Oh, he’s a great player. I’m not going to take his number. You know what number I’m thinking of? I’m thinking of taking maybe No. 7. Is that available?'”
Ironically enough, Brady was willing to wear seven since he would be chasing his seventh Super Bowl ring in 2020. As for Godwin, he wanted to keep the number because he had been wearing it for his entire football career, but he eventually relented on one condition: Brady had to win him that Super Bowl.
“I have been [wearing No. 12] since high school and it means a lot to me,” Godwin said. “At first it bothered me a little bit, it was kind of getting at me because it is part of my identity, but when the GOAT comes calling you kind of concede to him. Like I said, hopefully I can get a ring or two or three out of that.”
Well, he’s gotten one ring and if he wants to try and win at least one more with Brady, the soon-to-be free agent is going to have to re-sign with the Buccaneers.
