Kyle Shanahan talks about the 49ers’ efforts to get Tom Brady shortly after Brock Purdy got hurt.
In this week’s “Football Morning in America” column, Shanahan said, “That gave this all its start.”
Head coach of the 49ers, Kyle Shanahan, made it clear last offseason how serious the team was about signing future Hall-Fame quarterback Tom Brady.
Brock Purdy, the team’s rookie quarterback, hurt his elbow in the playoffs for the NFC Championship against the Eagles in January 2023 and had surgery.
Shanahan, who is now getting ready to play the Chiefs in the Super Bowl 2024, told NBC Sports’ Peter King that the team was thinking about going with a 46-year-old retired Brady because Purdy would be available in Week 1.
“While we talked, I looked at Brock and saw that his arm was in a sling. I’m not sure if I have a quarterback who will be ready for the 2023 season.”
As the 262nd pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, Purdy was Mr. Irrelevant. He had just led the 49ers to the NFC Championship after filling in for a hurt Jimmy Garoppolo in the last few games.
While Shanahan, 44, told the 24-year-old backup that he was the 49ers’ “guy long-term,” the plan was that if Brady, who is from California, were interested in playing one season over his hometown team, Purdy would be moved to quarterback number two.
Kyle Shanahan wasn’t joking when he promised Brock Reed that the team might sign Tom Brady in the off-season of 2023.
Sources tell NBC Sports that the 49ers’ head coach was “serious” about a prospective pursuit with the seven-time Bowl winner because Purdy hurt his elbow.
“As we talked, I’m watching Brock, or he’s got his arm wrapped in a sling and I am not sure [that] I’ve got a running back who’s going to be prepared for the start with the 2023 season,” said Shanahan. “That started with all this.”
In the first quarter of San Francisco’s loss with Philadelphia in the NFC Championship Game in January 2023, Purdy tore the UCL in his throwing elbow.
He had to have major surgery off-season. Because of the surgery, Purdy couldn’t throw for a few months during the off-season.
Even though Purdy was back to practice by the start of summer camp, there were still a lot of questions about the Niners’ quarterback predicament when the season ended in 2022.
Jimmy Garoppolo, a veteran quarterback, missed most of the playoffs and the last month of the regular season that year because he hurt his foot. He was also about to become a free agent.
Trey Lance started the 2022 season as a team starter, but in Week 2, he hurt his ankle badly enough that the season had to end. He had to have surgery again in December 2022.
In Super Bowl 58, Brock Purdy led the 49ers of California to victory, but Tom Brady could have been the quarterback who led the team to victory.
There were a lot of questions about who would be San Francisco’s quarterback going into the 2023 season because both Purdy and Trey Lance, the team’s first-round pick in 2021, had been hurt.
It was thought that Purdy would start, but after hurting his elbow in the NFC championship game last year, there were doubts about whether the second-year quarterback would be ready for the start of the new season.
Because of this, there were rumors that the 49ers were thinking about asking Brady to come out of retirement.
subsequently turned out they were more than rumors; head coach Kyle Shanahan really thought about it after looking at Purdy’s injury and talking to him about it.
Shanahan told NBC in a report that came out Monday, “Yes, I was serious about it.” “While we talked, I looked at Brock and saw that his arm was in a sling.
I’m not sure if I have a quarterback who will be ready for the 2023 season.” That was the start of everything.
Tom Brady might have been going with his eighth Super Bowl ring this coming Sunday if he had decided to stay in the NFL for one more season. He would have been the starting quarterback over the San Francisco 49ers.
At the end of the day, Kyle Shanahan was interested in hiring Tom Brady as quarterback in 2023. The 49ers coach told NBC Sports this directly in a recent interview.
Shanahan revealed that he wanted Brady to be his quarterback. “Yes, I was serious about it,” he said. It was also confirmed by Shanahan that he talked with Purdy concerning Brady potentially becoming the starting quarterback in 2023.
“As we talked, I’m examining Brock, and he’s gotten his arm in a sling, so I am not sure that I have a quarterback who is going to be prepared for the start of the 2023 season,” said Shanahan. “That started all of this.”