The Tennessee Titans were removed from the list of potential Tom Brady suitors on Sunday after re-signing quarterback Ryan Tannehill to a multi-year deal. That left many to shift their speculation on where the future Hall of Famer might land.
You can end all of the Brady to San Francisco 49ers chatter, says Chris Simms of NBC Sports. Although, Simms does note that the Niners were Brady's top choice as a potential destination.
"The 49ers are out on Tom Brady," Simms said on Sunday. "That is not going to happen. In my understanding, Tom Brady's number one choice was to go to San Francisco and be the starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers.
"I don't know what happened, but something happened in the last few days, to my understanding, to find out that the 49ers are out on Tom Brady, and they will be standing pat with Jimmy Garoppolo as their starting quarterback."
Simms goes on to say that the competition for Brady has now come down to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New England Patriots. While Simms doesn't believe the latter is willing to commit to the quarterback's asking price, he does feel Brady is likely to return to New England for less money.
That means the 49ers will move forward with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, as most who refused to buy into the wild speculation expected.
It always seemed like an odd fit for the 49ers, who would have been replacing their 28-year-old quarterback who just appeared in a Super Bowl with a soon-to-be 43-year-old quarterback at the end of his career. Yes, Brady is among the most accomplished players to ever play the game, but the move didn't make a lot of long-term sense.
For now, free agency remains scheduled to begin on Wednesday with the negotiating period to start on Monday. We could hear news surrounding Brady's future during that timeframe, which will shut the door on a whole lot of seemingly unnecessary Brady-to-49ers talk.