Coming off arguably the worst season of his career and a blowout loss in the playoffs, Tom Brady may not want to end his tenure with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on such a down note.

Per ESPN's Jeff Darlington (starts at 2:05 mark), there were times over the course of this season when Brady has felt "inclined to return to the Bucs and 'be part of the solution'" for the organization.

Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post noted in December that it's been "widely assumed" around the league that this would be Brady's final season with the Bucs, either because he retires or signs with another team in free agency.

Everything about this season felt like a struggle for Brady and the Buccaneers. Darlington noted many people in the organization were "frustrated" by the offensive play-calling.

Offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich was fired on Jan. 19, along with seven other assistants either leaving or retiring.

Brady did set NFL records for completions (490) and attempts (733) this season, but those were about the only positives for his game. The seven-time Super Bowl champion had the worst full-season touchdown percentage of his career (3.4) and finished with a losing record for the first time in 22 seasons as a starter.

The end of Tampa's season was a 31-14 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Wild Card Round. It was the second-worst playoff defeat by point differential in Brady's career.

While returning to the Bucs may not be out of the question for Brady, the front office has a lot of work to do regardless to be cap compliant in 2023. They are currently $55.5 million over the salary cap for next season.

That's before they even try to re-sign potential free agents, including Brady, Lavonte David, Akiem Hicks, Sean Murphy-Bunting, Aaron Stinnie and others.

This was always the price Tampa's front office was paying to bring in Brady and keep all 22 starters from the team that won Super Bowl 55. It wasn't a bad strategy, because the Bucs were a championship contender last season before losing to the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round.

But if Brady found things difficult to navigate this season, it's hard to see a path where the Bucs have a better roster in 2023 given their current financial limitations.