Tom Brady made his pitch to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before general manager Jason Licht and head coach Bruce Arians attempted to reel in the six-time Super Bowl champion.

Brady signed a two-year contract with the Buccaneers earlier this month after 20 seasons with the New England Patriots.

"We had a great conversation... we talked to him (Brady) for over an hour and a half. And he made it clear in the conversation that he was very, very interested," Licht said on ESPN's Get Up on Monday morning. "It was almost like a recruitment on his part, telling us why it would make sense for him to come to Tampa Bay. The next call we made, we signed him, but it was at that phone call that we realized, that we felt like we had him."

The Bucs already had a quarterback－Jameis Winston. But the former No 1 overall pick was in a walk year and Arians decided against him returning without seeing who else was out there.

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