After flirting with retirement before changing his mind just before training camp in 2022, Tom Brady decided to hang up his cleats for good in 2023. However, it looks like a Super Bowl contender was prepared to give him the starting job if he decided to come back.
According to Nick Wagoner of ESPN, the San Francisco 49ers were willing to bench Brock Purdy if Brady wanted to play in the Bay area this season. In fact, it seems that Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan let Purdy know that:
“Early in the offseason, Niners coach Kyle Shanahan sat down with Purdy and assured him that if he was healthy he would be the starter unless Brady wanted to play one more season for his hometown Niners. An ecstatic Purdy understood the logic, but the competitor in him also bubbled under the surface.
‘That meant so much to me,’ Purdy said. ‘I remember him saying, if we can get Tom Brady, we’re going to try to get him. And I was like, ‘Yeah, he’s the GOAT. I get it.’ But something deep down inside me was sort of like, ‘Dude, I just showed you that I can play well in this system. And we were one game away from the Super Bowl.’ … More than anything, I was like, ‘OK, now let’s go.'”
Brock Purdy #13 of the San Francisco 49ers hands the ball off to Christian McCaffrey #23 of the San Francisco 49ers during the fourth quarter against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium on December 17, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona.
Brady has been linked with his hometown team for a long time, especially when he left the New England Patriots in 2020. However, the Niners initially stuck to Jimmy Garoppolo and Brady went to Tampa Bay, where he led the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl victory in his first season since leaving Foxborough. Now, San Francisco seems to have found its guy in Purdy.
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Like Tom Brady, Brock Purdy became a starting QB against all odds
Purdy and Brady have one thing in common, which is knowing what is like to be overlooked. While the seven-time Super Bowl champ was selected 199th overall by the Patriots in 2000, the Iowa State product was the 262nd and final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft.
While that selection made Purdy that year’s “Mr. Irrelevant,” he turned out to be quite relevant for San Francisco. The Niners started last season with Trey Lance being promoted to QB1, with Garoppolo demoted to the bench.
However, injuries to both signal-callers during the regular season forced the team to lean on its third-string quarterback, who took everyone by surprise. Purdy’s strong play saw the 49ers make all the way to the NFC Championship Game, where he unfortunately had to be replaced due to an elbow injury.
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The Niners missed Purdy that day, realizing how important the rookie QB was for the team. That’s why they gave up on Lance in the offseason, and the only way the 49ers would have started another quarterback was if his name was Tom Brady.
This season, San Francisco clinched the first seed in the NFC with Purdy under center. Now it hopes the second-year QB can go the distance and win the championship.
