Bucs QB coach: Tom Brady wasn’t 100 percent during Super Bowl-winning campaign

The NFL world better look out, because apparently, Tom Brady wasn’t fully healthy last season.

According to his quarterback coach Clyde Christensen, the knee injury that Brady had surgery on following the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl win was something that bothered him throughout the season.

“I don’t think he was 100 percent last year,” Christensen said, per ESPN’s Jenna Laine. “His quote, or close to a quote was, ‘Hey, I’m gonna get my knee fixed up and I’m gonna be better next year and you’re gonna be excited about that.’

“Performance-wise, you wanna feel good. I think that thing was a nagging nuisance to him, having to tape it every day, just make sure he had that thing loose. So I think he’s excited about just feeling good again.”

MORE: Tom Brady admits he didn’t know it was fourth down during Bears game

If Brady wasn’t healthy last year, it was hard to tell. He put forth a strong performance, throwing for 4,633 yards, 40 touchdowns and 12 interceptions during the regular season. During the postseason, he had a bit more trouble completing passes — he completed just 58.7 percent of his passes and threw three interceptions — so maybe that’s when things started to go awry a bit for his banged-up knee. 

Even still, his postseason numbers and performances were still respectable and obviously didn’t deter the Bucs from winning.

That said, it’s fun to imagine what Tampa Bay’s ceiling could be if Brady was, in fact, limited by his knee injury last year and can get back to full health. The Bucs were already strong with Brady at less than 100 percent last year. And they will have unprecedented continuity within their starting lineup.

That’s part of why coach Bruce Arians is taking it slow with Brady as he looks to come back from surgery. They don’t want to rush him back and jeopardize his chances of returning fully healthy. That’s why Brady may have a different role than usual at mandatory minicamp this month.

“I don’t know how much I’ll let him do … with guys chasing him around,” Arians said. “We’ll see. We’ll see what the doctors say. He may be doing a lot of coaching.”