Despite making a run to the Super Bowl this past February, the 49ers took a look at their quarterback position this offseason.
Both San Francisco general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan have acknowledged the franchise had discussions about Tom Brady, who was bound for free agency after 20 seasons with the New England Patriots. The chatter was minimal, though, as the Niners stood pat with Jimmy Garoppolo and didn’t enter the TB12 sweepstakes.
The 49ers apparently kept Garoppolo in the loop while they took a brief look at Brady. And according to Shanahan, the 28-year-old wasn’t at all perturbed about the process.
“Jimmy’s an easy guy to talk to about that type of stuff,” Shanahan said on The Athletic’s “The TK Show,” as transcribed by ProFootballTalk. “Jimmy and I are pretty honest with each other. I told him exactly really what I’ve told you. And it’s also fun to talk to him about this type of stuff. ‘Cause I mean, he worked with Tom. He knows how great Tom is. Jimmy wants to get to there. And it’s important to me that he does, too. I would love to have something like what (Bill) Belichick and Tom have had out there. Those are my expectations. It’s cool when something like this comes up that leads to conversations that Jimmy and I have had. And he knows those are my expectations and it’s cool that I know that they’re his, also.”
Garoppolo’s handling of the situation is awfully similar to Ryan Tannehill’s. While Tennessee was linked to Brady in rumors for quite some time, the Titans signal-caller never was fazed by the noise and ultimately landed a lucrative deal in Nashville.
