There has been so much talk of the possibility (speculation, really) that quarterback Tom Brady might sign with the San Francisco 49ers this offseason. The storyline is certainly intriguing because it would mean the future Hall of Famer heading to the team he cheered growing up. It doesn't, however, seem to make a whole lot of sense for the 49ers to age the position by 14 years and create a potential problem sooner rather than later.
Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is 28 years old. Not young in NFL years, but a lot younger than Brady, who will be 43 when the 2020 season kicks off. The latter has one, maybe two, years left in him. Garoppolo could be the 49ers' quarterback long after that.
Peter King of NBC Sports recently discussed the Brady-to-49ers chatter in his recent column and joined Pro Football Talk Live this week to explain why he wouldn't pull the trigger on signing Brady if he were the 49ers.
"I would keep Jimmy Garoppolo," King told Mike Florio and Chris Simms. "In his first full year as a starter, he had a B to B-plus year, OK? And in my opinion, he's got the potential to be one of the best 10 quarterbacks in the league, consistently, especially being coached by Kyle Shanahan, who is one of the two or three best offensive minds in football, easily."
And then King summed up why keeping Garoppolo makes more sense for the 49ers than adding Brady.
"To me, I don't know why you would give up security at quarterback for the next 10 years for what you hope would be great for the next two," King continued. "I'm not saying they're not going to do it. I doubt they'll do it. But I wouldn't do it."
Another reason to not sign Brady was inadvertently explained by Karen Guregian of the Boston Herold on Tuesday, who was actually trying to make a case for why Brady to the 49ers makes sense.
"It would then come down to Shanahan being willing to tailor the offense to Brady," wrote Guregian, "and probably incorporating a lot of what he's grown comfortable with over the course of two decades in New England."
Shanahan can finally call the offense he wants after rebuilding the 49ers roster to match his vision. Would he want to move away from that?
"It's going to be the hardest offseason ever in Tom Brady's history if he wants to go to the San Francisco 49ers," Simms told King and Florio. "It will be the toughest offseason he's had since his rookie year in the NFL. He's going to have to go live inside the San Francisco facility, and learn a new system and a language when he's only known one language his whole 20 years of his NFL life."
Simms also notes that Garoppolo is only going to get better in the coming years. That isn't the case for Brady, and making a switch now could really upset the chemistry inside the 49ers locker room.
"It's going the other way (for Brady)," Simms adds. "So you have to take that into account too."
While King and Simms are against the idea of the 49ers dumping Garoppolo in favor of Brady, Florio, of course, is very much for it. He questions Shanahan's faith in his quarterback and believes the coach may be haunted by Garoppolo missing a wide-open Emmanuel Sanders late in Super Bowl LIV.