Skip Bayless Loves Tom Brady's Chances to Win MVP

Tom Brady will have a cadre of weapons unlike he's had in quite some time next season. His new team has gifted him two elite wide receivers, a pair of dependable tight ends, and one of the NFL's best gameplanning duos in Bruce Arians and Byron Leftwich. Put all that with the team's league-average defense last season, and Tampa Bay should be putting up big numbers next year.

How big those numbers could be is always a guessing game, and that's especially true in this case. No one really knows what version of Brady will be showing up whenever football starts again, because nobody has ever done what Brady is doing. Will his 20th year in the league bring his long-awaited decline, or will he feel rejuvenated in a new environment and continue to crush dreams around the NFL?

Skip Bayless believes it will be the latter. With all the talent around him, Brady will be as good as he's ever been, and has a great chance to walk away from 2020 with another MVP notch on his belt. Or so says Bayless.

I'd place Brady's MVP chances lower than in the past just because of the absurd young talent in the NFL right now. Patrick Mahomes will be a permanent fixture at the top of MVP rankings for as long as he stays healthy. Lamar Jackson is 22 and fresh off his own MVP season. Russell Wilson isn't exactly young compared to those guys, but he is to Brady and still has a lot of really good years ahead of him.

But Brady could very well elevate himself into the conversation throwing to Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Forty touchdowns seems quite optimistic, given the only year in his entire career he threw for more than 39 touchdowns was his record-breaking 2007 season. But he could definitely reach the heights of his most recent MVP season back in 2017.

Then, Brady took home the hardware after throwing for a league-leading 4,557 yards, 32 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. His main target was Rob Gronkowski in his last season looking like Gronk; the two connected for just over 1,000 yards through the air and eight TDs. Brady's new main targets in Evans and Godwin combined for 2,490 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2019. Neither alone is as impactful as Gronkowski, but combined, they're as dangerous as they come. Add in Cameron Brate and OJ Howard, and it's well within the realm of belief Brady can reach his 2017 heights three years later.

Brady had a bad year last year, but that can be explained away by his complete lack of support other than one Julian Edelman. Now there are no excuses. If Brady still has it, he'll be in the MVP conversation without a doubt.