Bill Belichick felt the Patriots had the best quarterback situation in the NFL.
Now, his team is left with one quarterback left on its roster.
Yes, New England still has Tom Brady, but on Monday evening, the Patriots agreed to trade backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in exchange for the San Francisco 49ers’ second round draft choice. It was a stunning decision, given how highly regarded Garoppolo is by the Patriots, and on Tuesday morning, Belichick said keeping Garoppolo just wasn’t sustainable anymore.
“We probably had, in my opinion, the best quarterback situation in the league for the last, let’s call it two and a half years, it’s just not sustainable given the way that things are set up,” Belichick told reporters on a conference call. “It’s definitely not something we wanted to walk away from and I felt like we rode it out as long as we could. We over a period of time explored every option possible to try to sustain it, but at this point we just had to make a decision.”
The Patriots’ head coach felt his team was in an ideal situation from a depth perspective at the quarterback position, but the 49ers’ offer was apparently too enticing to pass up. Though Belichick was reluctant to part ways with Garoppolo, he ultimately felt the timing was right.
“First of all, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Jimmy,” Belichick said. “I couldn’t ask for him to give us more than he’s given us. The 49ers are getting a good player, and they’re getting a good person, and they’re getting a tremendous teammate and they’re getting a good quarterback.”
On Tuesday morning, Brady appeared on Westwood One radio and said that he hopes his former backup becomes a quality starter for San Francisco, a team that desperately needs a franchise quarterback to build around after its first 0-8 start in franchise history. Brady called Garoppolo a great teammate and a great friend, and said he wants “nothing but the best” for the new face of the 49ers.
“I certainly hope so, he’s put in all the effort and I’ve watched him for three and a half years and really enjoyed working with him and hopefully he goes on and does a great job,” Brady said.