Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo's careers have been on a collision course before and it could happen once again with both former New England Patriots quarterbacks set to hit the open market in the off-season.
Garoppolo was the heir apparent in Foxborough until a scorned Brady got his way before definitively proving on the field that any attempt from head coach Bill Belichick to move on from him would have been misguided.
In 2017, Garoppolo was traded to the San Francisco 49ers and their careers had gone in different directions, but they could find themselves at the same junction in the months ahead with both men reportedly coveted by the Las Vegas Raiders, headed by the Pats' former offensive mastermind Josh McDaniels.
By the end of their time together in New England, Brady and Garoppolo were an obstacle to each other. Brady was certain he had plenty more in the tank amid concerns he could be usurped, while Garoppolo was in his fourth season in the league and desperate for the chance to be a starter.
Brady ultimately won out and neither man could truly complain about the outcome when the Niners forked out a second-round pick midway through the 2017 campaign, with Garappolo landing on his feet with a competitive team that he would later lead to a Super Bowl. Brady, meanwhile lifted the Lombardi Trophy for the sixth time just a few months later.
There was friction at the end of their time together in Foxborough, but how did their relationship begin? Looking back, both men seem to have different takes on the situation, and from here it is clear that Garappolo was in the supporting cast; the starring actors in this drama were Brady and Belichick.
"We always had a good relationship," Garappolo told The Hidden Side of Sports in 2018. "Initially when I was younger, kind of like an older brother type of relationship, but as I got older and matured through the NFL, we became closer and we became good friends."
Brady and his new backup QB may have been buddies, but in his 2021 documentary series Man In The Arena, the now Tampa Bay Buccaneers star shared his grievance with the fact the Belichick and the Pats had spent such significant draft capital on a player who could replace him, rather than assist him.
“We drafted Jimmy and I just thought, like every other time, you embrace them, they’re you’re teammate,” he said. “Now, we drafted Jimmy higher. Coach Belichick referenced my age to me, referenced it to the media. In my mind, I was thinking, ‘What are you talking about?'
“I think he was just referencing, well, not many quarterbacks have ever played and been successful late in their career, and that’s just a fact. Of course, for me, I was just like 'I don’t care about any of those things'."
It may seem strange to think a player who has won so much and continued to play at an elite level for a decade since would ever be insecure about his place as QB1, but at that point he was a three-time Super Bowl-winner who had gone 10 years without winning adding to his ring collection, losing two Super Bowls to the New York Giants in that time.
By the end of the 2014/15 season, of course, Brady had clinched ring number four and the Patriots were the class of the NFL once again. A rookie Garoppolo had started no games and thrown just 27 passes in relief of #12 and even in his late 30s, there was no doubt who was the man in Foxborough.
A fifth Super Bowl crown arrived two years later, with Brady leading one of the greatest comebacks ever to storm back from 28-3 down to beat the Atlanta Falcons in overtime. From the outside looking in, the New England machine was functioning as smoothly as ever, but internally there were signs of wear. Working with anyone for almost two decades would wear thin, right?
Brady and Belichick had been an unrivalled partnership for so long, but in his acclaimed 2020 book Dynasty, Jeff Benedict details how things started to turn sour, with Garoppolo's presence looming large and owner Robert Kraft had to get involved.
"Kraft’s paramount concern (after the Super Bowl) was the dynamic between Belichick and Brady," Benedict wrote. "Belichick’s decision to banish (Brady’s body coach and TB12 business partner, Alex) Guerrero from the sideline and the team plane in the middle of the 2017 season had been a tipping point.
"Kraft knew that Belichick’s methods were grinding on Brady. He also knew that Belichick was tired of the exceptions that Kraft felt were necessary to accommodate a transcendent star. The differences of opinion between Brady and Belichick were more pronounced than ever."
With Brady still performing at a high level, a difficult decision had to be made by the organisation. Would they commit their future to a man entering his forties with no firm idea on how long his body could hold up? That would have meant abandoning the Garopplo succession plan and recouping draft capital with the end of his rookie contract in the not-to-distant future.
It was widely reported at the time that Belichick was not on board with trading Garoppolo amid concerns about Brady's longevity, but Kraft took charge and a deal was done. Garoppolo was a 49er.
It was perhaps a case of right place, wrong time for him. Had he arrived closer to Brady's eventual departure from NE in 2020, he would likely be the Pats' starter right now and Mac Jones would be playing somewhere entirely different.
Shortly after the move, Garoppolo said he and Brady were still in contact. "We still text here and there," he said before recalling the fun and competitiveness they shared in practice with a game that centred on throwing footballs into trash cans.
"There would be days where one of us would win and you wouldn't talk to the other for a little while. We'd be fine the next day, but it was one of the best things for me. We would push each other, and we got two Super Bowls out of it."
More than five years on from that trade, 31-year-old Garoppolo's move to the Bay Area has been a success, going 34-16 as a starter. He steered the Niners to a Super Bowl, being narrowly beaten by Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020.
His skillset is limited but he has a good record in big games. A continuing run of injuries means his presence on the field is unreliable. But when he steps under centre he is the trusty kind of game-manager head coach Kyle Shanahan can win lots of games with, particularly with the Trey Lance gamble yet to pay off due to injuries of his own.
However, Garoppolo will find himself on the open market in just a few months as an unrestricted free agent, and after suffering a broken foot in December that has put the rest of his season in doubt, the Niners could allow him to walk. Rookie seventh-rounder Brock Purdy is playing well in his absence and 2021 number three overall pick Lance is due back from a season-ending ankle injury suffered in Week 2 in the months ahead.
Garoppolo will not be short of interest, particularly from teams who believe they are in a positon to contend with the right man calling the shots under centre. The New York Jets and Miami Dolphins fit the criteria, as do the Raiders who are set to move on from nine-year starter Derek Carr after benching him for the final two games of the regular season.
The Raiders are set to seek a trade partner for the 31-year-old, but there is also talk he could be cut if no exit route materialises. With offensive weapons like Davante Adams, Darren Waller, Hunter Renfrow and Josh Jacobs, it is understandable why the Raiders think they can go all the way if they get the QB position right and Carr undisputedly struggled this season before being benched.
So Garoppolo is on their radar, but the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports Brady is their number one target in the off-season. The 45-year-old and the Bucs booked their spot in the playoffs with a week to spare, but it has been a turgid year all told for Brady and if he chooses to play on into a 24th season, it will not be in Tampa.
The offensive talent listed above plus the warm-weather climate and the presence of McDaniels make it a logical landing spot for Brady, but he will not be short of suitors. It seems nearly impossible Brady and Garoppolo ever end up on the same roster again, but not for the first time they could be in something of a quarterback competition if both set their sights on one of the most appealing landing spots in the league.
Brady, again, is the favourite to win out.
