Tom Brady going back to the Bay Area would've been a really cool story.
The former New England Patriots quarterback grew up in Northern California and was a San Francisco 49ers fan as a kid. He even went to the famous Dwight Clark catch game with his dad during the 1981 NFL playoffs.
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Brady was a free agent this offseason, and 49ers general manager John Lynch admitted he considered pursuing six-time Super Bowl champion. How could you not, right? The opportunity to acquire the best player in league history doesn't come around often.
Luckily for the 49ers, they already have a talented starting quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo, who was Brady's backup with the Patriots for three-plus seasons until San Francisco acquired him from New England during the 2017 season.
Garoppolo understands that teams will always be looking at ways to improve their roster and if certain players are good fits.
“It kind of comes with the territory,” Garoppolo told Matt Barrows of The Athletic, on the subject of the Brady/49ers talk from earlier in the offseason. “It comes with the job.”
Garoppolo appreciated that Lynch and 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan were up front with him throughout the entire situation.
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“The one thing I can say about the whole situation was Kyle and John were very honest with me the whole time,” Garoppolo said, per Barrows. “That’s their job — to put the best team together possible and you’ve got to respect that. So as long as the honesty and truthfulness is there, I respect those guys, I love those guys. And it’s going to be a fun year this year.”
It doesn't sound like there's any hard feelings between the two sides.
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Brady ultimately signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a two-year contract with $50 million guaranteed. He was later joined by former Patriots teammate Rob Gronkowski, who was traded from New England to Tampa Bay in April after spending a year in retirement.
Garoppolo had a very good 2019 season and nearly led the 49ers to a Super Bowl title. He struggled in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LIV, and that helped the Kansas City Chiefs stage an impressive fourth quarter comeback to claim the Lombardi Trophy.
Despite posting strong stats and guiding the 49ers to within a single victory of a championship, Garoppolo is among the players with the most to prove entering 2020 campaign. That's what happens when you have a title slip through your fingers in the final 15 minutes of the season.
Garoppolo and Brady have never played against each other, and they aren't scheduled to square off during the upcoming regular season. The only way they would meet in 2020 is if their teams were matched up in the playoffs, and that would be pretty awesome.