The Tennessee Titans were viewed as a potential landing spot for Tom Brady prior to the start of NFL free agency, and for good reason.
Fresh off a trip to the AFC Championship Game, the Titans could have offered Brady a strong supporting cast to go along with a very winnable division. Furthermore, Tennesse’s head coach, Mike Vrabel, is a good friend and former teammate of the six-time Super Bowl champion.
The Titans, however, passed on entering the TB12 sweepstakes and re-signed Ryan Tannehill, who shined upon taking over for Marcus Mariota midway through last season. While Tannehill was privy to the Brady-Tennessee chatter earlier in the offseason, it doesn’t sound like he was at all bothered by it.
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“I really didn’t know what was going to happen,” Tannehill said in a conference call Tuesday, as transcribed by Pro Football Talk. “Obviously, I knew we were in negotiations and kind of working on it, but you don’t know. As a player, you don’t know if those things are real, if they’re trying to play both sides of coin or what. I just tried to stay true to the things I believed in and lean on the people I love and just try to trust the process. I knew if they wanted me back, then we were going to get it worked out, and if they wanted to sign Tom, then they probably would have signed Tom. I try not listen too much to it. Obviously, I was aware of the situation. I knew it could be happening, but I wasn’t sitting at home stressed.
“…It was really kind of out of my hands. I’m thankful the way it worked out. I was excited to be back. I wanted to be back. I love the guys on the team. I like the direction this program is headed off what we did last year and how I think we can build on that going into my year two with this team. Obviously, excited to be back. Yeah, I wouldn’t say it was nerve-racking day by day or anything like that.”
It’s unclear whether Brady would have preferred the Titans had they entered the race to sign him, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers likely are happy they didn’t.
