The 49ers had every reason to be interested in Tom Brady if he became available.
A week ago, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers made it known Brady would either play for them or not play at all. Coach Bruce Arians said it would take five No. 1 picks for the Bucs to trade his rights.
On Feb. 1, Brady stated, “It’s best to leave the field of play to the next generation.” It was a statement that most accepted as a retirement, although he did not use any form of the word.
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Until Sunday, the idea of him playing again was a hypothetical.
But Brady reversed field and announced his plan to play this season. And he will play for the Buccaneers, he said in a message posted on social media.
This move impacts the 49ers in two ways.
First, it means there is one fewer NFL team in need of a starting quarterback. Jimmy Garoppolo, whom the 49ers plan to trade this offseason, is no longer a quarterback of interest for the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay no longer has a vacancy.
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Also, we do not know for sure if the 49ers would have been interested in Brady if he had flexed his considerable muscle to force a trade to a place where he wanted to play. It certainly would have been reasonable for the 49ers to delay their transition to Trey Lance for another season in order to pursue the possibility of adding Brady.
But, even if the 49ers would have been eager to land Brady, that option now appears to be 100-percent closed.
The 49ers are believed to have a lot of faith in Trey Lance, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. So it would have been no disrespect to Lance if the 49ers had pursued adding Brady, an all-timer.
Brady led the NFL with 5,316 yards passing and 43 touchdowns. At 44, he is showing no signs of slowing down. His presence with the 49ers would have automatically vaulted the 49ers into a Super Bowl favorite.
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If there was a path for the 49ers to acquire Brady this offseason, that would have been a possibility the 49ers should have tried to navigate.
Now, there’s nothing to consider. Garoppolo is not going to Tampa Bay, and there’s nobody out there who could tempt the 49ers to bring in to start over Lance.