Russell Gage Thought Tom Brady’s Phone Call Was A Prank

The Bucs’ newest addition at wide receiver, Russell Gage, received a phone call from Tom Brady in an attempt to recruit the veteran and for a moment believed it was a prank. 

During his introductory press conference in Tampa, he stated that he thought someone was trying to pull one over on him, but after he realized the call was real, he was in shock.

“For a minute, I thought it was a prank; somebody was trying to pull one on me. I had just seen some fake news on social media, so my mind was kind of on fake news, so then when I got the call, it was kind of like, ‘Alright.’ I’m in a state of shock, and I’m stuck between, ‘Okay, this is unreal,’ and ‘this is not funny!’ Just trying to navigate my way through that, and then as we got going, I realized, ‘Okay, this is something serious.”

Gage also went on to say that he spoke with other teams and had offers, but the way Tom Brady had reached out to him was completely different and unreal.

“I had conversations with teams and offers and whatnot, but this was just completely different. 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 somebody like that, just seeing the other day that he unretired, and now, he’s reaching out to me? It was unreal.”

In four seasons versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Gage has caught 48 passes for 484 yards and 2 touchdowns. He had 11 catches for 130 yards against the Bucs this last December.