Sports Time Radio

NFL free agency starts in a week and there’s still a lot of talk about where Tom Brady will end up. Now I’ve been one of the now few people who believe when it’s all said and done he’ll be back in New England with the Patriots, but there may be other options for him.

Any team that has an opening at quarterback would be interested in bringing in Brady, but you have to think that he’s only going to go to a team where he has a chance to win the Super Bowl. Brady will be 43 when the season starts and if he s truly going to try to play until he’s 45 like he’s said he’s not going to spend the final couple of seasons with a team that doesn’t have a chance to win a Super Bowl.

Now this kind of narrows down possible landing spots for Brady and let’s see if there’s a way we can narrow it down even more.

There are a lot of people who think that the Tennessee Titans have a good chance of signing Brady. Mike Vrabel is Tennessee’s head coach and is a former teammate of Brady’s; so that might give them a small edge. Unfortunately Tennessee is going to have to find a way to sign Derrick Henry. Henry is coming off easily his best season in the NFL as he led the league in rushing yards with 1540. Henry also tied with Aaron Jones of the Green Bay Packers for the lead in rushing touchdowns with 16.

Henry is 26 years old and this will be his only chance to get a big contract in the NFL. You have to think that Henry will be looking to be paid similarly to the likes of Todd Gurley or Le’Von Bell. That means somewhere between $15 and $17 million dollars a season on probably a four or five year deal.

Henry isn’t the only free agent that the Titans are going to have to look into possibly resigning. Right tackle Jack Conklin is a free agent and if they do add Brady you’re going to want the best possible offensive line in front of him. Brady isn’t going to be able to roll out or escape pressure like Marcus Mariotta or Ryan Tannehill did for Tennessee last season. The perceived market value for a tackle like Conklin is $15 million dollars a season.

Do you think that Tennessee would be able to sign Brady and bring back Henry and Conklin all while staying under the salary cap?

While we’re in the AFC South there has been some talk that the Indianapolis Colts might be interested in trying to sign Brady.

Now the Colts do have Jacoby Brissett, but he is only signed for one more season and it’s at a very affordable price; so if they wanted to sign a top free agent quarterback they could be able to.

The Colts like the Titans have a top offensive lineman going into free agency. Anthony Castonzo will probably be one of the most pursued free agents on the market. He’s a quality left tackle in a league where that is the most valuable offensive line position to have. Even at 32 years old Castonzo is probably going to get a multiple year deal for around $15 or $16 million dollars a season.

Indianapolis gave up just 32 sacks last season and they’ll need to keep a quality offensive line together if they sign a quarterback like Brady. Phillip Rivers name has also came up as a possibly free agent target for Indianapolis and they’d still need that same quality offensive line in front of Rivers. Will have to see if the Colts have a preference in veteran quarterbacks.

The Los Angeles Chargers are another one of the teams that always seem to come up whenever you hear Brady’s name.

The Chargers went just 5-11 last season, but in 2018 the Chargers were a 12-4 team. Would the addition of a quarterback like Brady put the Chargers back on track to being that 12-4 team again?

Tyrod Taylor looks to be the Chargers starting quarterback at this moment, but will they stay with him? Or will they be adding another quarterback like Brady in free agency?

The Chargers just resigned running back Austin Ekler to a multiple year deal, but they haven’t really hinted one way or another on what they’ll do with there other free agent running back Melvin Gordon. With Gordon holding out last season Ekler showed that he can handle the #1 running back spot and with Justin Jackson as the change of pace back there’s a chance that the Chargers will allow Gordon to sign elsewhere.

It appears as though the Chargers biggest free agency decision now that Ekler has been resigned is what to do with tight end Hunter Henry. Henry has shown that he has talent, but he has yet to play all 16 games in a season and missed all of the 2018 season with an injury. Henry will turn 26 years old during the 2020 season and he has a project market value on the free agent market of just under $9 million dollars. Brady has had great success in his career working with a quality tight end; so you’d have to think if the Chargers are seriously interested in signing Brady they’ll do everything they can to bring Henry back.

Looking at some of the other teams who’s names have come up in the Brady sweepstakes.

There’s the Miami Dolphins and while their head coach Brian Flores was a former member of the Patriots coaching staff I don’t think the Dolphins are close enough to being a Super Bowl contender for Brady to go there. Miami also currently holds the 5th pick in the upcoming NFL draft and it appears that they use that pick to find their quarterback of the future.

The Las Vegas Raiders have came out and said they have no interest in signing Brady, but for quite a while they where linked to him; so you never really know with this team. The Raiders where 7-9 last season and they would have to do something with Derek Carr before bringing Brady in. Josh Jacobs showed he can be a #1 running back in the league and Las Vegas does have a quality tight end in Darren Waller, but if they did add Brady would that make them a Super Bowl contender?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are looking for a quarterback, but they haven’t been linked to Brady at all. That actually makes quite a bit of sense as I don’t think that Brady has the arm strength required to throw the football like Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians likes to.

There are some of the better options for Brady along with some names that have been linked to him that I don’t think he’ll end up. Where do you see Brady playing next season?

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