Colin Cowherd isn’t ready to close the book on Tom Brady’s tenure with the New England Patriots.
Even though Cowherd believes Brady would be wise to join the Indianapolis Colts this offseason, the FOX Sports 1 host doesn’t expect the veteran quarterback to leave New England in the coming months.
On Wednesday, Cowherd listed several reasons why Brady will re-sign with the Patriots in free agency despite rampant speculation casting doubt over the QB’s future with the only NFL franchise he’s ever known.
“There’s three or four reasons why I think he’s staying in New England,” Cowherd said. “Number one: If Tom Brady left the Patriots, it would be a $13.5 million cap hit. Have you followed Bill Belichick’s career? Does he like paying for players? No. Especially ones he doesn’t have. You think Belichick’s gonna wanna incur an almost $14 million cap hit for a guy not on his team? That is so not Belichick.
” … Number two is they don’t have a succession plan. If they had Jimmy Garoppolo in the backyard throwing the football, I’d buy it. They don’t.
“Number three is I don’t think there’s a massive market. The position is changing, it’s getting more mobile, it’s getting more athletic, there’s not a lot of good offensive lines. Tom’s a liability if you don’t have a great O-Line.”
Cowherd proceeded to warn against overexaggerating the Patriots’ supposed downfall while also pointing to Brady’s TB12 business endeavors. Although Brady might welcome change after spending 20 seasons in New England, it’s also fair to wonder whether his first foray into free agency is nothing more than him testing the market before ultimately circling back to the Patriots.
"Let's not over-exaggerate New England's fall. They were 12-4 and a dumb loss to Miami from having a playoff bye… I don't think Tom Brady bolts." — @ColinCowherd pic.twitter.com/tvyPfl8rCQ
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) January 22, 2020
Patriots owner Robert Kraft has made it clear he’d like to re-sign Brady, although New England might need to do some salary-cap gymnastics to lock down the six-time Super Bowl champion. It’ll be interesting to see how Belichick feels about continuing the marriage, though, as Brady showed some regression in 2019 and will turn 43 before the 2020 campaign.
Max Kellerman even wondered Wednesday on ESPN’s “First Take” whether Belichick would consider leaving the Patriots if Brady re-signed with New England.
