Tom Brady to the Los Angeles Chargers. Makes sense, right?
As he hits free agency for the first time, that destination has been speculated about since the fall. Brady has lived in L.A., trained in L.A., is a Californian and above all, a quarterback in search of a job. And after reportedly moving on from Philip Rivers, the Chargers have a QB opening and a new stadium to fill.
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Not so fast, says a former Charger who is now a sports talk radio host in San Diego, the team's home until two years ago. Nick Hardwick, who was a center for 11 seasons with the Chargers (2004-14), tells Tom E. Curran's Patriots Talk Podcast from Super Bowl 54 in Miami that he "can't see it happening."
"It makes zero sense to me," Hardwick told Curran and Phil Perry. "Other than perhaps he wants to be in the [media] production business and be to get closer to that."
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He goes from the New England Patriots, an organization that owns two private 737s with Patriots logos on the side and then to come out to L.A. and comes to an organization that is not an owner but a renter of a stadium. I can't conceptualize that.
The Chargers are moving into a new stadium this fall, but they'll be a tenant of the Los Angeles Rams. So, Hardwick sees the Brady speculation more as a one-way pursuit "for the PSL [personal seat license] sales and to get those boosted up and for ticket sales" than Brady being attracted to L.A.'s "other" football team.
New England Patriots
"If you're Tom, you're not going somewhere to just kill time," Hardwick said. "He's not going somewhere to pick up an additional three years and in my opinion, tarnish your legacy."
Curran and Perry also touch on how the "Brady Watch" has hijacked the Super Bowl hype with guests such as former Patriots exec Scott Pioli, ex-Pats linebacker Willie McGinest and current Steelers defensive end Cam Heyward weighing in on Brady's future.
The Super Bowl itself has a Patriots flavor with former Brady backup Jimmy Garoppolo leading the San Francisco 49ers against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in Miami. Curran catches up with Kyle Shanahan, who opens up about how the 2017 trade that sent Jimmy G to the Bay Area went down.
It's all in a jam-packed Patriots Talk Podcast on the NBC Sports Boston Podcast Network, which you can also check out in the YouTube clip below.