Thinking The Unthinkable

Would Bill Belichick trade Tom Brady?

I guess another way to put that question would be...

Could that ever be the best thing for the team?

There's been plenty of chatter lately - for a year or more really - about the Patriots trading Jimmy Garoppolo. It could happen as early as when the last bit of confetti falls on the field after SB51 and no later than the night before the 2017 NFL Draft opens. A 1st and a 4th? A 1st and a 4th.

Recent rumors that Josh McDaniels is the top choice of the San Francisco 49ers for their head coach vacancy - and the further possibility that Nick Caserio could become their GM - got me thinking the unthinkable. If those dominoes fall, could it be Tom Brady, not Jimmy G leaving Foxborough?

I know, I know. Every other citizen of Patriots Nation just gave me the side eye.

Even my inner child is giving me the side eye.

Maybe it's just the formless, nameless anxiety I feel during bye weeks.

Maybe I'm casting a reverse jinx.

Maybe I'm an idiot.

Maybe there's no maybe about that.

Still, it just hit me. And it freaked me out.

Brady's relationship with McDaniels...

Would McDaniels rather have Tom Terrific than Young Aladdin? I took a look at the 49ers roster and it's not good. I'd say Brady has won with less but I'd be lying. If I'm McDaniels, who do I think has a better chance to elevate the, um, skill players who carried San Francisco to a 2-14-0 finish in 2016; Brady or Garoppolo?

Brady credits McDaniels for his development as a player. Is there any coach he'd rather play for? Cue the quote!

"I could never be the player that I am without him and he challenges me every week. I have so much confidence in him as a coach and his abilities and the way he leads our offense. He's spectacular and it would be tough to lose him. We certainly aren't going to lose him in the next two weeks. Like I said, I hope he doesn't for my own personal sake, but I can understand all those reasons why these other teams would want him to lead their organization."

TB12 pulling on the jersey of his childhood hero…

All I know is that we've had clear skies for the last two days and there's still ice on my driveway. The "I'm not going to make it down to the curb alive if I try to pick up the mail" kind of ice. Gisele is from Brazil. I know the first time you see snow it's magical but come on now. You took pictures. Why are you still living in Boston? When I bought my first snowblower I felt like the King of Winter. That feeling wears off pretty damned fast. The only reason most of us live in New England is because we can't leave. Okay, I have no idea if Tom Brady has any nostalgia for his childhood but I've been to San Francisco and it wasn't cold and it wasn't covered with 30 inches of snow and the restaurants were amazing. I'm just saying there are worse places to be traded to and yes, I mean Cleveland.

We've seen this movie before...

The more the pigskin pundits and bobbleheads talked up Garoppolo the more I thought about that first half against the Dolphins. Jimmy G is young enough to be Tom Brady's son (that's right, Brady was doing basement business when he was 14-years old). Okay, Garoppolo is young enough to be Brady's youngest cousin. Anyway, my point is Garoppolo is younger than Brady; do you want the last 5 years of TB12 or the first 10 years of Jimmy G?

And by "you" I mean Bill Belichick.

If there's one man i n the NFL with the balls to trade the greatest quarterback who ever laced 'em up it's Bill "Trade 'Em One Year Too Soon, Not One Year Too Late" Belichick. We've seen this movie before and we always hate Act I but then in the end, the Patriots win another Super Bowl and we start bitching about the fact it didn't get an Academy Award nomination.

You are not serious! You cannot be serious!

Uh, yeah. I kind of am. I don't want it to happen but if you've been a Patriots fan for any amount of time you know Belichick will do whatever he thinks is best for the team and if his pigskin calculus says that's keeping Jimmy G and moving on from Tom Brady, then he will do it.

I hope not, of course. I'm a fan, after all. I want to see Tom Brady in a Patriots uniform. I want to see Gronk come back as good as ever and Martellus Bennett to stay in New England and Michael Floyd to get help and I even want to see Logan Ryan stay with the Patriots. I hope Cyrus Jones can figure it out. I'm glad they signed Marcus Cannon to an extension. If the Pats don't (or can't) draft Christian McCaffrey, I want LeGarrette Blount to come back. James White has been great but I can't help it; I still miss Shane Vereen. (Yes, Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins are conspicuous by their absence from this trip down memory lane.) I don't want anyone on the current roster to leave - least of all Perfect Tommy - because these are my boys.

But that's not how it goes and not just in New England and maybe that's why I fear this unthinkable possible future. We need look no further than Brady's childhood hero finishing his career in a Kansas City Chiefs uniform, or Brett Favre as a Viking then a Jet, or Peyton Manning's corpse winning a Super Bowl as a Bronco.

It happens.

I just hope my reverse jinx works in this case.