Tom Brady is retired.
Let’s start with that. Brady’s announcement of his retirement in early February was strange in detail, yes, and he absolutely sparked intrigue about his status in the month since, giving left and right interviews where he gave a master class on non-responses. But as far as we know, and until the next order, the seven-time Super Bowl winner made a perfectly reasonable decision to stop playing football at the age of 44.
If Brady decides to retire, no one will be surprised. But then what happens?
This is where the San Francisco 49ers come from. As the NFL off-season is in full swing, NFL experts are in desperate need of long-running storylines, things they can return to when the well dries up. And don’t you know: Tom Brady, the greatest footballer of all time, a man who seems unconvinced that he is ready to move to full-time shilling by NFTgrew up as a fan of Niners / is from San Mateo, as you have heard approximately 8 billion times.
“If Brady comes back, he’ll go to the Niners” is an increasingly common refrain by NFL experts, but it’s not really based on anything other than pure conjecture. Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk makes a lot of assumptions, but in an annoying way, exclusive to famous sports experts, where they talk loud enough to make you think they know something. And honestly, Florio is involved in NFL offices – he may actually know something!
Florio wrote on Friday that Brady shouldn’t have much trouble getting out of last year’s deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, especially after winning their Super Bowl and staying with the team in a cheaper deal than necessary. Florio’s story serves as a rebuttal to a recent statement by Bucks coach Bruce Alliance, who said he was strongly opposed to trading or removing Brady from the list if he returned.
“As a matter of practice, [Brady’s] The commitment to the Buccaneers is over, “Florio wrote.” who tried to do it. “
And Florio cut four times less than the deal with Brady-Nayners during recent media appearances as he advertised his new book. “I have come to the conclusion that Tom Brady has retired from the Buccaneers, not from football. He is trying to gracefully leave Tampa Bay, although he is under contract for another year,” Florio told 95.7 The Game on Friday. “People say, ‘What else does Brady have to achieve?’ Well, he never played for the team he grew up supporting. It has a strong psychological and emotional power over everyone. “
A few days earlier, in an interview with Dan Patrick, Florio had given essentially the same quotes, adding that Brady on the Niners was giving Trey Lance another year to mature. Florio bravely agreed to be teased in the face if Brady doesn’t become the 49ers’ quarterback by week 1.
Mike Florio (COM)@ProFootballTalk) absolutely thinks we’ll see Tom Brady play again … probably for # Nines. He put a pie on his face, bet on it with @PaulPabst this morning. pic.twitter.com/xEcaRmR838
– Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) March 1, 2022
And in a recent appearance on NBC Sports, Florio said his money was for Brady to go to the Niners, and that Arians has been wrong about Brady so far (that he will not retire in the first place and will remain retired). The last moment is strange, because again, as far as we (we mean everyone except Florio) know, Brady is … still retired.
Now, however, we are ready with speculation. The Boston Globe published a column Friday entitled “The 49ers wouldn’t be stupid enough to betray Tom Brady for the third time, would they?” years betrayed 40-year-old Brady. Another segment on NBC Sports Boston on March 2 was already discussing whether Brady could win the title with 49ers.
It is still a little early to say whether any of this means anything or is just food for bored football experts. But the noise has officially become loud enough to know at least this: whether they like it or not, the 49ers will be the subject of rumors about Brady in the foreseeable future, especially among the national media.