The San Francisco 49ers have been remarkably open about their interest in Tom Brady prior to the six-time Super Bowl champion signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in free agency this offseason.
Both general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan have confirmed the Niners had internal discussions about whether they should pursue Brady before ultimately deciding to stay the course with Jimmy Garoppolo as their starting quarterback.
The decision makes sense, for a number of reasons, which is why Nick Wright can’t figure out the science behind San Francisco’s top decision-makers being so candid about the team’s approach to Brady’s free agency.
“This is so dumb,” Wright said Thursday on FS1’s “First Things First.” “I can’t believe that Lynch and Shanahan are just admitting to the world, ‘Yeah, we had to seriously consider getting rid of our 28-year-old for a 43-year-old because who wouldn’t?’ Well, I’ll tell you who wouldn’t: The Chiefs wouldn’t. The Seahawks wouldn’t. The Texans wouldn’t. The Packers wouldn’t — well, the Packers who knows at this point. The Saints wouldn’t. You want me to keep going? Philly didn’t. Dallas didn’t. The Titans could’ve, and they chose Ryan Tannehill over him.
“You know who does think about bringing in Tom Brady? Teams that don’t like their quarterback. Because he’s 43 years old, coming off the worst year of his career. And if you’re going to have these discussions privately, so be it. To admit them publicly is lunacy.”
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"I don't understand why the 49ers are publicly giving these flowers to Tom Brady at the expense of Jimmy G." — @getnickwright pic.twitter.com/dAyubpVsg0
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) April 30, 2020
The idea of Brady joining the 49ers always seemed farfetched, although it sure was a fascinating hypothetical, especially if it paved the way for Garoppolo to rejoin the New England Patriots.
Yet instead of sweeping the speculation under the rug, both Lynch and Shanahan have publicly acknowledged their due diligence, inherently raising questions about how the 49ers view Garoppolo moving forward.
“The only possible explanation is they want Jimmy G to be more motivated or know he’s on the clock,” Wright said. “He should be at peak motivation, anyway, since he had the game-winning Super Bowl pass in his hand and he overthrew it by seven yards. But also, he knows he needs to upgrade a level or two to get them to where they want to be. I don’t understand at all why they are publicly giving these flowers to Tom Brady at the expense of their quarterback. It’s just baffling to me.”
In any event, the 49ers will look to bounce back from losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV, while the consistently mediocre Bucs will look to establish themselves as legitimate championship contenders after landing both Brady and Rob Gronkowski.
As for the Patriots, well, it appears they’ll hand the keys to second-year quarterback Jarrett Stidham barring an unforeseen development — like signing Andy Dalton or Cam Newton?
