For the first time in his unrivaled NFL career, Tom Brady will have an opportunity to sign with whichever team he pleases when his New England Patriots contract expires in March.
If the 42-year-old quarterback opts to leave New England, where might he fit? With the start of free agency still more than two months away, we’re taking a team-by-team look at some potential landing spots for the future Hall of Famer.
Next up: the Tennessee Titans.Â
WHY IT MAKES SENSE
If you can’t beat them, join them, right? The Titans are clearly built to win now after upsetting the Patriots in the wild-card round and the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday night in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs.
The Titans are led by one of Brady’s good friends, head coach Mike Vrabel, who played with TB12 in New England from 2001 to 2008. They also have an enviable group of young weapons that include wide receivers A.J. Brown, Corey Davis and Adam Humphries and tight end Jonnu Smith. One would assume Tennessee also will bring back free-agent running back Derrick Henry, who currently is carrying the team. The offensive line, led by left tackle Taylor Lewan, also has been playing well.
Vrabel isn’t the only former Patriot to find success in Nashville. Ex-Patriots director of college scouting Jon Robinson is the Titans’ general manager. Former Patriots defensive coordinator Dean Pees in Tennessee’s defensive coordinator, New England’s 2009 third-round pick Tyrone McKenzie is inside linebackers coach and the roster features former Patriots running back Dion Lewis, wide receiver Cody Hollister, guard Jamil Douglas and cornerbacks Logan Ryan and Malcolm Butler.
Titans starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill is a free agent after the season. Marcus Mariota, the starting QB who Tannehill replaced, also is a free agent. Tannehill had a great 2019 season, but he’s thrown for less than 100 yards in two consecutive playoff games.
WHY IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE
This sounds pretty crazy, but why would the Titans move on from Tannehill after the amount of success they’ve had in 2019? The Titans seem destined to re-sign or franchise Tannehill.
Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith runs a west-coast offense, which would be entirely new terminology for Brady to learn 20 seasons into Brady’s NFL career.
There’s also an assumption that Brady would prefer to go to a major market, and while Nashville is a popular Bachelorette party destination and seems like a good enough place to live, it’s not New York, Los Angeles, the Bay Area or Chicago.
VERDICT
It basically comes down to whether the Titans would prefer Brady or Tannehill, which wasn’t a debate we were ready to have like two weeks ago. It also depends on Brady’s comfort with a west-coast offense.
