Stay golden, Tommy boy.
Tom Brady’s career is, for all intents and purposes, over. The quarterback called it quits in the weeks before Super Bowl 56 after 22 seasons and seven Super Bowl wins in his illustrious career. Ding dong, the witch is dead, etc.
But…
The end of Brady’s career hasn’t felt final, or at least, for a lot of people it hasn’t. Rumors surrounding a potential TB12 return to the field have been just that — rumors.
That still hasn’t stopped some analysts, outlets and insiders from speculating that Brady could end up on the West Coast to play for his boyhood favorite team, the 49ers.
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There are a few reasons why people are desperate to connect the Brady-to-San Fran rumors. Here’s why:
Tom Brady-to-49ers rumors
There are more than few very speculative reasons why people have stayed on the Tom Brady-to-San Francisco rumors.
2020 free agency
Tom Brady’s “Mother F—er Saga” was the biggest summer blockbuster of the 2021, with Twitter sleuths trying to decipher who Brady’s “mother f—er” barb was aimed at.
Context clues lead us to believe that the 49ers were the team which opted to pass on Brady’s services when he was a free agent the year prior, with Jimmy Garoppolo on the receiving end of the slight.
He grew up a 49ers fan
Brady grew up a 49ers fan in San Mateo. He regularly attended 49ers games in the 1980s, including the 1981 NFC championship game.
When you win seven Super Bowls, are widely considered the greatest player of all time and is one of the few QBs to win a ring with two different teams, you’re allowed to call your own shots.
Trey Lance is ‘not ready’
With the 49ers deciding to keep Trey Lance on the bench for the majority of the 2021 season in favor of Jimmy Garoppolo, some feel that Lance, the soon-to-be sophomore passer, isn’t quite ready yet.
ESPN analyst Booger McFarland levied some heavy criticism at Lance, while others, including some dude named Joe Montana, made it apparent that maybe Lance isn’t quite ready to start yet.
“I don’t think Trey’s ready to play yet myself and after talking to some of the players, it’s one of those things that, if you can keep Jimmy healthy, he plays well enough to get you here [to the Super Bowl],” Montana said the week of Super Bowl 56.
Lance only played 19 games at North Dakota State and started just two games in 2021 while the team stuck with Garoppolo.
With the 49ers’ roster ready to win, some people have connected the Brady-to-49ers dots as something of a parallel of when he went from New England to Tampa Bay, latching on with a Super Bowl-ready roster.
“Now Trey Lance, we don’t know, and Trey doesn’t know,” former Niners QB Steve Young said in February. “If Trey was ready, Trey would have played. Trey needs to get ready this offseason.”
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Wild speculation
More than anything, a lot of the Brady-to-San Fran smoke has been manufactured by some analysts and insiders who don’t seem willing to let go of Brady’s career just yet.
One of the biggest shovelers of this has been Mike Florio, who admits to not having any inside info, but has a ‘feeling’ that Brady will end up on the West Coast.
“I don’t know that he will. I’m not predicting that he will. But I have a feeling that he will,” Florio said recently. “If he doesn’t, he doesn’t. If he does, many will be surprised. I won’t be.”
This, in the grand scheme of things, means not much. It’s a prediction, which people are certainly allowed to have, but predictions shouldn’t take the place of legitimate reporting.
‘When I suck, I’ll retire’
One of the most telling quotes that make Brady detractors think twice is his admission that he wanted to play until his 50s — with a caveat.
In 2014, Brady was 37 and some felt he was nearing the end of his career (how naïve and stupid those people were), and he came to an admission: When he’s no longer effective, he’ll walk way.
He had a more plain way to say it:
“When I suck, I’ll retire,” Brady said on 2014 on WEEI in Boston. “But I don’t plan on sucking for a long time.”
Narrator: Brady did not suck.
Brady walked away from the game definitively not sucking: He set a career high in passing yards (5,316) and led the league in passing TDs (43) and yards per game (312.7) for a team that went 13-4 at the age of 44. That’s absolutely not sucking.
Missing paperwork
On Feb. 1 — the day Brady announced his retirement — Brady hadn’t actually filed his retirement paperwork with the league, per the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin.
Such a move would certainly offer a bit of closure and a lot of finality for a career.
‘Never say never’
Maybe it could be a reference to Justin Bieber (he did have a Belieber ‘do at one point in his career), but Brady didn’t slam the door completely shut on returning while speaking with sportscaster Jim Gray.
“You know, I’m just gonna take things as they come,” Brady said on Feb. 7. “I think that’s the best way to put it and I don’t think anything, you know, you never say never.”
Brady would go on to say that he’s at peace with his decision at the moment, but doesn’t know how he’ll feel in six months.
Never say never, indeed. Even Sean Connery came back as James Bond, folks.