ICYMI: @tomecurran tells @AdamSchein he believes the 49ers conversation surrounding Tom Brady is real from both sides pic.twitter.com/5L1bkA7NeK
— Mad Dog Sports Radio (@MadDogRadio) March 3, 2020
No, the Tom Brady-to-the-49ers talk isn’t going to die down anytime soon. Especially not with media folks stoking those fires. After Deion Sanders said on the final day of the NFL Combine that he believed a Brady-for-Garoppolo swap would happen, Patriots beat writer Tom Curran of NBC Sports, echoed the same sentiment.
When asked where he thought Brady would end up by Adam Schein on Mad Dog Sports Radio, Curran said he believes that the 49ers were in the conversation.
“50-50,” Curran said. “To me, it’s either going to be New England or Tennessee, with the 49ers closing hard on the outside.”
“So you think the 49ers conversation is real?” asked Schein.
“I do, I do,” Curran said.
“You think that’s from Tom (Brady) or from San Francisco?” Schein asked.
“I think it’s from both,” Curran said. “I think that there is an appeal. What’s interesting about that is, the Patriots sent Jimmy Garoppolo out there for such short collateral, that could Belichick say, ‘Hey, why don’t you sign this guy when he comes available for two years? I’ll take Jimmy. [Brady] will get you the Super Bowl that you probably would have had if you had Brady. We’ll start fresh.’
“It would be interesting to me to find out whether or not that happens because I think that the Niners can release Jimmy Garoppolo outright and suffer no consequence.”
“Would Belichick get back into the Garoppolo business?” Schein asked.
“Yes. So would (Josh) McDaniels I think,” Curran said. “That would be the best case scenario all the way around. The only thing that wouldn’t happen is Brady wouldn’t get the chance for AFC schadenfreude alongside [Titans head coach Mike] Vrabel if they finish alongside the Patriots.”
Garoppolo’s contract is very easy to cut after this season (he could also be cut before April 1 and have little cap impact). $15.7 million of Garoppolo’s $23.8 million guarantees on April 1, according to OverTheCap, and the only remaining guaranteed money on his deal are the $1.4 million prorated bonus hits in 2021 and 2022.