Skip Bayless, Mike Florio, Deion Sanders, and now Peter King.
While it seems unlikely to happen, there has been no shortage of speculation surrounding a hypothetical situation that could send quarterback Tom Brady to the San Francisco 49ers, and it won't end at any point over the next couple of weeks.
Of course, most of the media assume that would mean shipping quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo elsewhere — with the most discussed destination being back to the New England Patriots.
King, of course, speculates on the possibility that maybe the 49ers might be willing to keep both quarterbacks, telling Garoppolo to sit tight for a year or two and resume his role as Brady's understudy. But even King acknowledges that is, among other reasons, financially unlikely.
Not only do you have to question whether or not the Niners could afford both quarterbacks' salaries, but even if they could, it would mean no further offseason action to improve the roster.
Then you have to wonder if Brady would even want that again. There were reports out of New England that the future Hall of Famer wasn't too pleased looking over his shoulder toward the guy his head coach, Bill Belichick, considered Brady's future replacement.
As for trading Garoppolo, King questions trying to do so in a quarterback-packed free-agent market. The value, potentially, wouldn't be as high.
Click here to read the entire feature by King over at NBC Sports.
Meanwhile, what we know for sure is that the 49ers have already verbally committed to Garoppolo moving forward. You would think that would be enough to kill the Brady-to-49ers discussion, but it hasn't been.
"We're extremely proud of Jimmy and committed to Jimmy moving forward," general manager John Lynch said at the NFL Scouting Combine. "He's our guy. As I've said, from the day he walked into our building, he made us better, and we continue to feel that's the case. And that's the most exciting think about him, is the room for growth. He's not come close to hitting his ceiling."
Head coach Kyle Shanahan credits Garoppolo for much of the 49ers' success this past season.
"I think Jimmy deserves a ton of credit for what he did this year," Shanahan said in Indianapolis last week. "I think people talk a little bit about how he was coming off an ACL (injury), but I also don't think that people realize that was his first (full) year playing quarterback in this league. ... This was his first time going through a full season. He had less games than (Browns quarterback) Baker Mayfield going into his second year."
