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Tom Brady is inching closer to his next destination. According to multiple reports (by NFL Network, FOXSportsRadio and ESPN, among others), the former New England Patriots quarterback has an agreement in principle to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

There's no signing date or announcement officially set up, but Brady is fully expected to be a Buccaneer.

The deal is believed to be roughly $30 million per year.

Why Tampa?

ESPN's Jeff Darlington, who is well-connected to Brady's camp, cited the following reasons for the decision:

1. A collaborative coach.

2. An underrated roster stocked with weapons on offense and a trending defense.

3. Warm weather.

4. Proximity to New York City (where one of Brady's sons lives).

So, after 20 seasons, 41 playoff games, 30 playoff wins, 219 regular-season wins, six Super Bowls, three league MVPs, 74,571 passing yards and 541 touchdown passes, Brady will take on a new challenge.

As NFL.com's Jeremy Bergman noted, the Chargers and Bucs immediately became the two most likely destinations for Brady after the Tennessee Titans extended Ryan Tannehill on Sunday and Brady made his league-shattering announcement on Tuesday morning. After all, Los Angeles had let Philip Rivers walk into free agency and into an Indianapolis Colts uniform this offseason, while Tampa Bay had played coy about its attachment to impending free agent Jameis Winston since the combine.

Early Tuesday evening, however, NFL Network's Jim Trotter reported the Chargers believed they were out of the running for Brady, whose priority it was to stay on the east coast because of the above-mentioned family considerations.

Just minutes later, Brady had an agreement in principle with the Bucs.

Brady's signing will officially end Winston's reign as Tampa Bay's starting quarterback. Winston has long-considered meeting Brady one of the highlights of his young career. The two squared off in a nationally-televised game on Thursday night in 2017, with Brady's Patriots holding off the Bucs 19-14. It was Brady's only career game at Raymond James Stadium.

Winston said at the time, "I dream to be able to be the type of quarterback he is for his team to our team."

Head coach Bruce Arians said all along he wanted to see what was behind door No. 2 before committing to Winston’s return. Winston now knows his future, after five seasons, will be elsewhere.

When asked at the NFL scouting combine who the one quarterback was that he'd pick up the phone for if available, he did not hesitate.

"Tom Brady," Arians said with chuckle.

Adding to the intrigue here, the Buccaneers boast one of the top receiving tandems in the NFL. In fact, no wide receiver duo created a higher win share in my model than Mike Evans and Chris Godwin last season.

And also, there's Arians.

The coach has encouraged aggressive quarterback play in terms of air yards per attempt with Ben Roethlisberger, Andrew Luck, Carson Palmer and Winston.

Brady, though, finished last season ranked 26th in the NFL in average pass distance. In fact, he has finished in the top 10 in air yards per attempt only once since ESPN began tracking in 2006, which was his 2017 MVP campaign.

Could Brady move back up in that category?

Given Arians' preference and considering the Tampa receivers' air yards-per-target mark of 13.9 ranked best in the NFL last season, it's certainly well within the range of possible outcomes.

Beyond that, there's an underused tight end in Tampa that could benefit from a quarterback with a long history of leaning on that position.

O.J. Howard struggled throughout his first season in Arians' offense, which has been notorious for not getting the tight end involved vertically as much as Dirk Koetter's did. Adding to Howard's woes, fellow tight end Cameron Brate seemed to have better chemistry with Winston than Howard did.

But the talent is there. And perhaps Brady can tap into it. ...

Whatever the case, Brady has five times as many playoff wins, six times as many Super Bowl wins and seven times as many 30-TD seasons as all the Buccaneers quarterbacks in the team's history. He could lose his next 283 starts and still have a better career record than the Bucs franchise.

Worth noting, Brady, 42, could be returning to Foxboro in 2021, as the Patriots are scheduled to host the Buccaneers that season. Also, Tampa will host Super Bowl LV next February.