Russell Gage thought he was being pranked when Tom Brady called to recruit him to Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers aren’t quite running it back with all 22 starters like they did a year ago, but they’re still doing work to make sure they remain in the mix at the top of the NFC. One of their biggest moves so far was signing wide receiver Russell Gage away from the division rival Atlanta Falcons, handing the slot man a three-year, $30 million deal that contains $20 million in guarantees. 

At first, Gage couldn’t believe he was really being recruited to Tampa, because the person calling him to do the sell job said his name was Tom Brady. 

“For a minute, I thought it was a prank, somebody was trying to pull one on me,” Gage said, according to ESPN. “He just told me about what they have here in Tampa Bay and that he wanted me to be a part of it, that they something really special going on. Honestly, he didn’t have to say much. He definitely had me hooked on it after that. … It was definitely special.”

Gage said he was taking out the garbage when he received the call from Brady, which was unexpected because the two did not have a prior relationship. They’d place against each other four times in the last two seasons as division rivals, but that was it. 

“Probably midway through,” Gage said he realized it really was Brady. “I could kind of tell in the delivery that, ‘OK, this is real.’”

And because it really was Brady calling him, he knew he had to take the opportunity to join the Bucs. 

“I had conversations with teams and offers and whatnot, but this was just completely different,” he said. “This was like no other. It was a huge blessing. I was three years old when Tom Brady got into the NFL, so to hear from somebody like that, just seeing the other day that he unretired and now he’s reaching out to me? It was unreal.”

Gage will presumably slot in behind MIke Evans and Chris Godwin in the team’s pecking order once Godwin returns from his torn ACL, but he can fill in as the No. 2 wide receiver if Godwin is not ready for the start of the season. He and Godwin should also be able to switch back and forth between the slot and the perimeter, making the Bucs a bit more versatile offensively.