Skip Bayless of Fox Sports 1 is the one who kicked off all the Tom Brady to San Francisco 49ers speculation. And that's all it seems to be, at this point — speculation. But the Undisputed host still envisions a Brady-49ers marriage as the quarterback's, and possibly the team's, best chance to win another Super Bowl.
Bayless believes the 49ers would have emerged as the Super Bowl LIV champions had they had Brady at quarterback rather than Jimmy Garoppolo.
Brady is scheduled to become a free agent in March. Bayless, along with co-host Shannon Sharpe, went through the various landing-spot possibilities for the future Hall of Famer, who likely seeks a Super Bowl contender as a destination. After all, he will be 43 years old by the start of the 2020 season.
Bayless notes some comments by Kurt Warner of NFL Network, who reportedly said the path to the Super Bowl is easier in the NFC because of the emergence of talented young quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson on the AFC side.
"The ultimate goal for Tom Brady, the ultimate match of quarterback and team, the fairytale story, the storybook ending would be Tom goes home to the 49ers," said Bayless. "Why wouldn't they cut bait with the Jimmy G, that clearly Kyle Shanahan has not bought completely into. He had lots of nice moments, but in the biggest moments in the playoffs, they took the ball out of his hands until the fourth quarter, when it was too late, in the Super Bowl. And then they tried to put it in his hands, and you know the rest of the story."
Going "home to the 49ers," of course, is a reference to Brady, a former San Mateo resident, growing up a fan of the team.
Bayless notes that the 49ers can very easily get out of Garoppolo's salary as the team has a potential exit in the contract. The host also believes New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick would welcome back Garoppolo if given the opportunity, whether that means the 49ers releasing the quarterback or trading him back to the team which drafted him.
"What makes most sense for me is for Tom Brady to make the call to John Lynch or Kyle Shanahan, and try to figure out if that would be a fit," Bayless continues. "Again, the NFC is the easier path, but there's no wide-open job because Jimmy is there (in San Francisco), and Dak (Prescott) is obviously in Dallas."
The bottom line is that we'll likely be hearing a lot of speculation surrounding Brady's uncertain future in the coming weeks. It is undoubtedly one of the more prominent storylines at the NFL Scouting Combine. 49ers fans won't be immune to the chatter.
You can watch the entire discussion on Undisputed below.