NFL Exec Believes Tom Brady's Retirement Was Attempt to Facilitate 49ers Trade

An anonymous NFL executive believes Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady's brief retirement was a ploy meant to set the stage for a potential trade to the San Francisco 49ers.

According to Mike Sando of The Athletic, the exec said: "Brady came out with a statement saying he needed to do it before free agency, but I'm thinking these several weeks have been all about seeing if the 49ers were willing to bring him in."

When asked if the Buccaneers would have been willing to trade Brady had the Niners been interested, the executive said: "I'm thinking Brady would have felt like he has so much PR on his side that they would have been willing to let him out, that he delivered a Super Bowl."

After announcing his retirement on Feb. 1, Brady released a statement Sunday, revealing that he was ending his retirement to return to play for the Bucs in 2022:

Brady's announcement came on the eve of the opening of the legal tampering period of free agency, which was significant in terms of the Buccaneers potentially being able to convince some of their free agents to return.

The 44-year-old Brady was born and raised in San Mateo, California, which is about 20 miles south of San Francisco. Brady grew up a 49ers fan and regularly attended Niners home games.

When Brady decided to leave the New England Patriots following the 2019 season after 20 years with the franchise, there was some thought that San Francisco could be his landing spot.

In October, SI.com's Seth Wickersham shared an excerpt from his book It’s Better to Be Feared: The New England Patriots Dynasty and the Pursuit of Greatness, in which he detailed Brady's interest in the 49ers.

Wickersham wrote that Brady reached out to former teammate and then-49ers wide receivers coach Wes Welker, telling him that he would sign with the 49ers if they wanted him.

The Niners were coming off an appearance in the Super Bowl with Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback, although much of their success was predicated on their running game and strong defense.

Wickersham wrote that after Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the coaching staff watched Brady's 2019 game film, they decided that while he was better than Garoppolo, he wasn't so much better that they could justify moving on from the much-younger Jimmy G after a Super Bowl appearance.

The Niners' apparent decision paid dividends for the Bucs, who signed Brady and won a Super Bowl in his first season at the helm.

Although the Bucs fell to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Divisional Round of the playoffs last season, Brady was spectacular again with a league-leading 5,316 passing yards and 43 passing touchdowns during the regular season, which earned him a second-place finish in the NFL MVP voting.

If Brady's retirement announcement after the 2021 season was indeed an attempt to entice the 49ers into acquiring him, it put San Francisco into a catch-22 situation once again.

Brady is still playing at an elite level and potentially could have gotten the Niners over the hump after they surprisingly reached the NFC Championship Game last season with Garoppolo as their quarterback.

At the same time, the Niners used the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft on quarterback Trey Lance, and the expectation is San Francisco will trade Garoppolo this offseason to pave the way for Lance to start. Acquiring Brady would have forced Lance to sit for at least one more year and perhaps even more than that if Brady was happy playing close to his hometown.

Regardless of whether any discussions were had between the Bucs and Niners, Brady is back in Tampa, and the Buccaneers are once again among the top contenders to win a championship because of his presence.