When impending free agent Tom Brady opted to retire last month, most felt that killed the Brady-to-49ers speculation. The chatter didn't end, though. One media member, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, spearheaded the conjecture, saying that he can envision Brady returning for one team—the San Francisco 49ers. Much of that is due to the uncertainty surrounding Trey Lance and Brock Purdy.
Lance is returning from a season-ending ankle injury suffered in September. Purdy is expected to miss at least six months after undergoing surgery to repair the tear of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right elbow, an injury suffered in the NFC Championship Game.
"Their championship window remains open, even if they've been unable to fly through it," Florio wrote. "Brady could be the missing piece to the first San Francisco Super Bowl victory in 29 years — since the 29th Super Bowl."
A six-month recovery for Purdy is a best-case scenario for the second-year quarterback. Should the surgeon opt for the reconstruction of the ligament rather than a repair, that will add one to three months to the recovery timeline, potentially putting his 2023 campaign in jeopardy. If that happens, adding a more high-profile veteran might make more sense.
Florio isn't alone in thinking a Brady-49ers marriage makes sense. One Bay Area reporter believes San Francisco has to at least look into the possibility.
"I think, if you're the Niners, you ask Brady again," Mike Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle recently said. "I think you let the dust settle for a while. It just makes too much sense now…"
Florio isn't backing down from his Brady-to-49ers speculation. The Pro Football Talk reporter joined KNBR on Friday morning and defended his stance.
"How many times are we going to fall for 'I'm retired' from anyone and everyone?" Florio said on the Murph & Mac show. "He can say and pass a lie detector test that he's retired today. Is he going to feel that way in April? Is he going to feel that way in May? Is he going to feel that way in June? Is he going to feel that way in July?"
Brady briefly retired last offseason, with many, including Florio, believing the future Hall of Fame quarterback still sought to play for his favorite childhood team, the 49ers. Instead, Brady returned for one more season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
There were reports that Brady wanted to join the 49ers in 2020. Head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch opted to stick with Jimmy Garoppolo, who had just led the team to a Super Bowl appearance.
"Tom Brady has said in the past, 'I'll retire when I suck,'" Florio continued. "And he acknowledged on his podcast after he retired that he meant it when he said it, and now he's retiring before he sucks. I'm not ruling out anything with Tom Brady. He wanted to sign with the 49ers in 2020. They said, 'No, thank you.'"
Florio speculates that Shanahan didn't attend the NFL Scouting Combine last year because he might have been trying to court Brady. It's worth noting that Shanahan and his coaching staff didn't attend this year either, likely debunking that theory.
"I think this year, out of any year since 2020, the 49ers would be more inclined to give something like that a try for a one-year thing," Florio added. "The question is getting Brady to do it. But I'm not getting off that horse because I know, dating back to his first foray into free agency three years ago, the 49ers were his first choice. And I just feel like he's going to believe his career isn't complete until he wears that gold helmet with the 49er logo on it for one season of his career."
Florio notes that the 49ers are a competent quarterback away from potentially winning a Super Bowl. The team has reached the NFC Championship Game in three of the last four seasons. Florio believes a player like Brady, even at 45 years old, can be that quarterback.
"This is a championship-ready team," Florio said. "Just [need] that quarterback who is in the upper half of the NFL and who can stay healthy. That's it. That's it. I've said time and again that if the 49ers had just waited for Kirk Cousins like Shanahan wanted to do and planned to do in 2017—it's one of the reasons why he didn't scout Patrick Mahomes, he thought he was getting Kirk Cousins a year later—if they had done that instead of trading for Jimmy Garoppolo, I think they would have had a couple of trophies by now."
Of course, Florio doesn't believe anything is imminent regarding Brady making a U-turn on his retirement decision.
"I don't think it's anything that happens anytime soon," Florio said. "I think they leave a light on for him, they go forward with the guys they have, maybe they get some low-level veteran that they could dump without significant expense.
"… If [Brady] shows up again, they'd be beyond stupid to say no to him a third time because he'll come out, he'll get the job done, he'll run the offense, he'll stay healthy. And this may be the way to finally get that trophy."
One thing is obvious. The Brady-to-49ers talk isn't going anywhere yet, even after the quarterback's retirement.
You can listen to the entire conversation with Florio below.