Though he technically retired from the NFL on February 1st, fans, pundits, and players alike have continued to link Tom Brady to the San Francisco 49ers. One of those pundits is Colin Cowherd, the host of FS1’s The Herd, who shared on his show that one of his sources strongly believes that Brady’s playing days aren’t finished and thus could join Trey Lance and Brock Purdy in San Francisco’s QB room.
“Somebody I trust outside this building at FOX told me a couple weeks ago, ‘I don’t think Brady is going to be a broadcaster any time soon, I think he wants to play.’ Brady set records last year, a couple of different records— attempts, and completions at 45 years old,” Cowherd said via Fox Sports Radio. “A lot of people limp to the end, but Elway didn’t, Roger Staubach didn’t, Derek Jeter didn’t, Kobe scored 61 in his last game as a Laker, Brady can still sling it. He’s not as good as he was, but remember, the San Francisco offense is built on ‘are you smart? Can you distribute the ball accurately? Can we pay you a good salary but not break the bank, we want to keep these weapons.’”
“I think you gotta buy into this [Brady unretiring]. Remember, when I asked Tom Brady, ‘are you retired?’ he kind of gave a nebulous, fuzzy, non-concrete answer, and he didn’t stick the landing. People that day said, ‘I loved the Brady interview, but he kind of gave you a fuzzy answer on the retirement thing.’ I went back and watched it and thought, ‘yeah, it was kind of fuzzy.’ We’ve got multiple people, Mike Silver, Rich Eisen, Trey Wingo, Tyler Dunne; these people are sourced. Aaron-Jets sounds like it’s going to happen, Brady to the Niners is still on the table.”
Is Brady to the 49ers actually “still on the table?” Or is this all smoke and mirrors during an extended offseason? Technically, this question could loom over the team all season, as Brady could unretire at will and immediately become a free agent allowed to sign with any team, but where there’s smoke there’s often fire, and Cowherd isn’t the only reporter who has a source saying to keep an eye on Brady’s status moving forward.
Colin Cowherd casts some doubt over Tom Brady joining Fox any time soon
A Local Reporter is Also Hearing Brady to the San Francisco 49ers
In addition to Cowherd, Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area also shared some information passed along to him from a source close to Brady and let it be known that a deal could be a possibility.
“In our conversations with someone who has been around Tom Brady a lot, from the days in Boston, this person said, ‘The 49ers would be absolutely crazy not to sign him to a one-year deal,'” Maiocco said via NBC Sports Bay Area.
If Brady does rescind his retirement, the consensus appears to be that he would either sign with the 49ers or the Miami Dolphins, who run a similar offense under former San Francisco offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel. In the end, playing time may prove to be the deciding factor in how Brady spends the rest of the calendar year, as it would be unrealistic to expect him to lace up his cleats once more only to hold a clipboard on the sidelines.
Tom Brady Weighs in on his own Retirement
Seemingly everyone has an opinion on Brady’s retirement, but what does the man himself think about potentially returning to the Gridiron for one final run actually dubbed a farewell tour? Fortunately, Brady took to Twitter to answer that very question.
“Anyone who thinks I have time to come back to the NFL has never adopted a 2-month-old kitten for their daughter,” Brady wrote.
That’s that, right? Well, considering Brady has made more than $332.9 million over his playing career just off of his contracts, according to Spotrac, it’s safe to say he could hire a professional kitten-sitter to keep the dream of winning an eighth Super Bowl alive.
Truly grateful on this day. Thank you 🙏🏻❤️
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Sourced Fox Broadcaster Links Tom Brady to the 49ers