In the case of Tom Brady, maybe the grass is greener on the other side.
While Brady likely would command a robust market in free agency, many have argued New England still is the best fit for the star quarterback. After all, the Patriots are the only NFL franchise Brady’s ever known, and joining a new organization and learning an entirely new system would be a tall task for the 42-year-old. Not to mention, it probably doesn’t hurt playing under arguably the greatest coach in the history of the sport.
But when you break it all down, Dan Orlovsky seems to believe the Patriots might not be in Brady’s best interest. While there, of course, are a number of pros for Brady to stay in Foxboro, there are a handful of cons as well.
“One, the skill people around him,” Orlovsky said Friday on ESPN’s “Get Up.” “It’s (Julian) Edelman, N’Keal Harry, (Mohamed) Sanu, Matt LaCosse and James White. That is not helpful for a quarterback, let alone one that’s gonna be 43. No. 2, they have the hardest schedule in football next season. We can say challenge all we want, but that is a reality for this football team. Three, this defense that was really good last year, five of them are free agents. Five of those guys could ultimately leave if they think, ‘Well, Tom Brady may not be coming back and we want to go elsewhere.’ Four, they have one pick in the top 80 selections of the NFL draft. This is not a team that’s equipped with a bunch of cap space and a bunch of draft capital to reload for one more run. That is a heavy task for a quarterback to look at and go, ‘Yeah, I’m the missing piece from them going back to the Super Bowl.'”
Orlovsky’s listed causes for concern, while currently true, are subject to change. Save for their 2020 schedule, the Patriots can find ways to amend those aforementioned problems, whether it be through salary cap shuffling, landing players on discounts or uncovering diamonds in the rough. And as we’ve seen over the past two decades, Bill Belichick and Co. are more than capable of pulling all of those off.
There’s no denying the Patriots have plenty of work to do this offseason, but their issues are far more insurmountable.
