Earlier this week, ESPN’s Seth Wickersham debuted pieces of his new book: It’s Better To Be Feared.
One piece of the book caught the nation’s attention on Friday afternoon. According to the book, Brady contacted former teammate Wes Welker about the possibility of playing for the San Francisco 49ers.
Per Conor Roche of Boston.com, Wickersham wrote in the book that Brady contacted Welker in the aftermath of Super Bowl LIV to let him know he wanted to play in San Francisco:
“In an excerpt from the book, Brady told Welker that there would be ‘no free-agency tour, no bidding war, full stop; he would end his career where his love of football began, in scarlet and gold, allowing his parents to drive to (his) games for the first time since the 1990s,’ if the 49ers wanted him.”
Wickersham later noted that San Francisco was Brady’s first choice in free agency. However, the 49ers opted to stick with Jimmy Garoppolo instead.
Per Wickersham, via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and each of the team’s offensive assistants evaluated Brady’s recent performance.
“According to the book, the 49ers coaches merely liked Brady’s film and concluded that Brady was only marginally better than Garoppolo at that stage of both men’s careers,” Maiocco wrote.
In the end, Brady chose the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the football world knows how that ended. Brady and the Buccaneers put together an incredible winning streak en route to a Super Bowl title.
Perhaps Shanahan and the 49ers made the wrong choice.
Tampa Bay and San Francisco don’t play each other during the 2021 regular season. A playoff matchup between the two would be must-watch TV.
The post ESPN Insider Reveals Tom Brady’s No. 1 Choice In Free Agency appeared first on The Spun.
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