Are the Dallas Cowboys a dark-horse candidate to sign Tom Brady?
There hasn’t been much chatter linking Brady to Dallas — just some speculation here and there — but that could change after the story former Cowboys receiver and current NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin told Friday on WEEI’s “Dale & Keefe.”
Irvin was asked about the idea that Dallas could place the franchise tag on Dak Prescott, only to then turn around and trade the quarterback while signing Brady in free agency. Brady, who has spent his entire 20-year career with the New England Patriots, is set to hit the open market next month.
“I’m just telling you right now, at the Super Bowl in Miami, some very significant people that I had some conversations (with were) leaning in that same direction,” Irvin said. “It was shocking. I had a vodka cranberry in my hand and when they said it to me, I put the drink down and said, ‘Let’s talk a little bit more about this.’ I promise you, I had a conversation with people, I can’t tell you who, about that same scenario going down. And I was like, ‘I just don’t know if there’s a real possibility of that happening.’
“Guys, you know where I stand with that. I think for the sanctity of the NFL, for what Tom has been, if I’m commissioner (Roger) Goodell and I know, I’m trying to lean in (Robert) Kraft’s ear like, ‘You can’t let this happen. You gotta keep Tom somehow in New England and let him finish his career (with the Patriots),’ because I just think it’s best for the NFL.”
Obviously, we should take this with a grain of salt. It could’ve been nothing more than a crazy hypothetical drunkenly thrown around South Beach, much like it’s probably been drunkenly floated in several bars across Texas. But it’s a bold idea, if nothing else, and we all know Cowboys owner Jerry Jones isn’t afraid to swing for the fences. Maybe Dallas at least will consider such a sequence of events should its contract negotiations with Prescott go south.
All in all, Irvin’s little Super Bowl chat adds another wrinkle to the most fascinating story of the NFL offseason. While it’s hard to imagine Brady leaving the Patriots, especially if New England pulls out all the stops with its next deal, there likely will be no shortage of teams interested in the greatest quarterback in NFL history.
