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Tom Brady departing the New England Patriots for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have shocked the sports world, but, really, it was something that reportedly had been in the works for the past few years. Even after winning six Super Bowl titles under the guidance of head coach Bill Belichick, the future Hall of Fame quarterback seemed to quietly be waiting for his moment to leave — and it all allegedly got started in 2017 when the Patriots and San Francisco 49ers were engaged in trade talks.
As we all know now, the major 2017 trade between the Pats and Niners included quarterback then 25-year-old Jimmy Garoppolo, but, per Bleacher Report‘s NFL Insider Matt Miller, Belichick had originally offered Tom Brady instead, which is something that New England owner Robert Kraft quickly pulled back on. Take a look below at some of the details in a recent piece from Miller.
Per Niners Nation:
Miller cites several sources in his story and says when 49ers GM John Lynch reached out about a potential Jimmy G trade, Belichick countered by offering Brady.
“At the time, there was an incredible amount of buzz around the NFL that the 49ers originally asked for Garoppolo, but Belichick instead offered Brady. A Patriots source confirms that’s how it went down, and a 49ers source close to John Lynch says the first-time general manager couldn’t believe his ears when he heard the counteroffer.
Lynch had the chance to trade for the best quarterback ever to play and bring him back to his hometown? It’s the ultimate no-brainer, but it didn’t happen.
”Kraft shut that s—t down fast,” says a source close to Belichick. “So, instead, Lynch gets Garoppolo, but Brady, Belichick, and Kraft haven’t been the same since Tom learned that Bill was ready to get rid of him. And that lit a fire under his ass.”
If true, this type of disrespect from Belichick surely helped motivate Tom Brady. The guy is the greatest ever and his head coach is thinking he’s that disposable? Talk about a ruthless move by the head coach, right? Ultimately, Kraft — who views Brady as a son — stepped in and wouldn’t allow such a deal, but the damage was clearly already done in terms of the relationship between coach and player.
Now with the Buccaneers, Brady gets a fresh start with a young team with lots of offensive weapons for him to play with. It’ll be interesting how this all ends up for the quarterback in Tampa — and it’s weird to even accept in real time — but imagine had Kraft signed off on the proposed deal in 2017 with the Niners and No. 12 had gotten traded by the Patriots. Yeah, that would’ve been almost unprecedented. Instead, it was Garoppolo, who led San Fran to a Super Bowl 54 trip this past season.