The Patriots. The 49ers. The Titans.
Tom Brady's destination in free agency continues to dominate headlines as NFL free agency approaches, so it's no surprise that any tiny morsel of information ignites wildfires of speculation.
One such example was this past weekend, when Brady and Julian Edelman went to a Syracuse basketball game and were caught on camera FaceTiming with their friend Mike Vrabel, who just so happens to the Titans head coach.
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So what was going on? Was Vrabel getting a jump on the legal tampering period by making a pitch to Brady? Not even close, at least according to Vrabel, who explained the call Friday during an appearance on NFL Network's "Good Morning Football."
"Well, it would be no different than a conversation you would have with your girlfriends on a weekend. My relationship goes back to 2001 with Tom Brady — training camp at Rhode Island, at Parente's, we'd go to practice and bunch of us would go out to the bar at Parente's after practice and that's where a lot of those friendships were made," Vrabel said.
"Those friendships aren't just going to stop or not continue to grow and develop now that I'm a head coach and he's a quarterback with and expiring contract. Those are going to continue on well after we're done playing with his family, with my family and having the ability to meet Jules and all those players — there's a special bond that goes on in the locker room and that's not going to stop."
So what did the conversation consist of? Per Clay Travis, Vrabel called Brady up for some good-natured ribbing about his hair.
Even if it was just an innocent phone call between friends, the Titans remain a very real possibility for Brady in 2020, especially since the Titans' incumbent quarterbacks — Ryan Tannehill and Marcus Mariota — are both set to hit free agency as well.
Vrabel and the Titans reached the AFC Championship Game last season behind Tannehill and fellow free-agent-to-be Derrick Henry, so they're a team on the rise, but Vrabel wouldn't tip his hand when it comes to the team's upcoming plans.
New England Patriots
"We always recognize those players who have helped us get to where we are," he said. "Obviously, the business of football to me is that every day [general manager] Jon [Robinson] and I are trying to look for players that are younger and cheaper. The players in those seats are doing everything that they possibly can to make sure that doesn't happen."
Younger and cheaper? Even though that doesn't apply to 42-year-old Tom Brady, the Titans adding the future Hall of Famer can't be ruled out — at least, not until Brady signs elsewhere.