When the New England Patriots traded promising quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to the 49ers around two months ago, the lopsidedness of the trade left many scratching their heads. It was a trade that remained a mystery until an in-depth report from ESPN The Magazine revealed some background information surrounding the move. Specifically, the article took a look at Tom Brady’s reaction to the trade and claimed that a few of his teammates saw their starting quarterback “excited, hollering and cajoling” during practice a few days after the news broke.
Nonetheless, while making an appearance on the Kirk & Callahan Show on Boston’s WEEI radio station on Tuesday morning, Brady denied reacting in any such way to the Garoppolo trade.
“I think that’s just such a poor characterization of anything,” Brady said. “In 18 years, I’ve never celebrated when someone has been traded, been cut. I would say that’s disappointing to hear that someone would express that, or a writer would express that, because it’s so far from what my beliefs are about my teammates.”
When the Patriots drafted Garoppolo in the second round in 2014, Brady was 14 years into his now 18-year NFL career; in which he’s been a 13-time Pro Bowler, two-time MVP and a year after winning his fifth Super Bowl, he begins his quest for No. 6 in the divisional round against the Tennessee Titans on Saturday.
Although Garoppolo spent most of his time in New England as the hardly-used backup quarterback, appearing in 17 games and making only two starts over four years, the ESPN story indicated that Bill Bilichick wanted to groom Garoppolo to take over for Brady, now 40-years-old, when his age eventually catches up to him. Because of this, Garoppolo posed as a serious threat to Brady, who the report said “is famously unhelpful toward his backups”, and that fear may have led to such a reaction that the veteran quarterback denies.
“I think I’m very empathetic towards other people’s experiences. I know those situations aren’t easy. I’ve never been traded or released, but I can imagine how that might feel. I would never, ever feel that way about when Jimmy got traded, when Jacoby [Brissett] got traded. I’ve kept in touch with all those guys,” Brady said. “When Matt Cassel was gone. All these guys I’ve worked with, I felt like I had such a great relationship with all the quarterbacks I’ve worked with. I kept in touch with basically everybody. So to characterize that as a certain way is just completely, completely wrong.”