Should the Tennessee Titans Sign Tom Brady?

Tom Brady is perhaps the most intriguing free agent quarterback situation since Peyton Manning left the Indianapolis Colts. Although he has spent his entire 20 year career with the Patriots, it has been considered a realistic possibility that Brady is taking his first true free agent experience seriously. The thought of Brady finishing his career playing for someone other than New England once seemed preposterous, but now it feels like this potential reality may only be a matter of waiting for the opening of the new NFL league year. While making an appearance on Adam Schefter’s podcast, fellow ESPN reporter Jeff Darlington named the Titans as the leader to sign Brady for next season. The potential of Brady signing with the Titans does make some sense. Mike Vrabel is a former teammate and is a known Brady friend. This would give a level of comfort for Tom that he might not even have with the Patriots. Tennessee also provides a potentially strong market for Brady’s ever expanding TB12 performance centers. The team made the AFC championship last season and has several players just entering their prime. He would have a better offensive line than what he played behind last season and assuming Derek Henry is resigned, he would have a dominating running back playing behind him. Adding this along with some still developing wide receivers and the potential must be intriguing for Tom. There are many good reasons for Brady to make the jump to the Titans, but how much does it make sense for Tennessee to sign Brady. It has been reported that Brady will require a contract with an average annual value in the neighborhood of $30 million. That is a big financial commitment to a quarterback that is 42 and will be 43 next season. Although considered the GOAT, Brady had one of the worst seasons of his career last season. He only completed 60 percent of his passes last season which was the third worst of his career. Ryan Tannehill is only 31 and his contract will be in the same neighborhood as Brady and could perhaps cost less. Tannehill’s career track record is not great, but for the Titans, they have just seen the best performances of his career. He led the team to the AFC Championship and was also named the AP Comeback Player of the Year. Tannehill led the team to a 7-3 finish and helped the offense Tannehill also was able to complete 70.3 percent of his passes with 22 touchdowns and a league leading 117.5 passer rating. He is younger and more affordable. More importantly, he also has the backing of fellow free agent Henry. Henry went on record this week and stated he would prefer the continuity of having Tannehill back rather than switching the offense over to Brady. This is probably the sentiment of many of Titans players because of the life Tannehill was able to breathe into the offense once he was named the starting quarterback. They saw the results and want a chance to duplicate them. The other issue may be the offensive system. Brady has played in virtually the same system his whole 20 year career. The Titans run a different system and their offense takes advantage of the mobility and arm strength of quarterbacks with the skill sets of guys like Tannehill. The safer bet would be to stay patient and continue to build on what was started with Tannehill last season. If it doesn’t work out, they could always try to move on in another year or two with a new quarterback. The problem with staying patient for Tennessee might be the fact that these windows to win a Super Bowl do not always stay open forever. Unless you are fortunate enough to find a young franchise quarterback to build around for years, the salary cap eventually closes these opportunities. Having a quarterback with the resume and pedigree of Brady also does not present itself too often. Even at his current age, he is a proven Super Bowl winner with six championships to his name. He knows how to help get a team over the hump and also keep it contending in even the worst of times. It can be hard for a team to pass up on the opportunity. If the Titans were to stick with Tannehill and pin all of their hopes on him and it doesn’t work out, they may find themselves in a rebuilding mode rather than just looking for another QB to help them break through. If Tannehill doesn’t work but the team finds itself financially tied to him, they may not get another chance at a Super Bowl run with their current roster still being in their prime years. All they have to do is look at Chicago over the last two seasons to see how quickly things can change without the right quarterback. Would they be willing to take the risk? Are either quarterback the right choice? The Titans have roughly $47.4 million in salary cap space for the upcoming season. While this can be manipulated in how contracts are written and salaries divided, would it make sense for the team to commit a big chunk of their cap space to Tom Brady when they still have other important free agents to resign? Although the thought of bringing in Brady to get the team over the hump is tantalizing, is it worth the potential shuffling of the roster and offensive system the signing may require? Do they want to go all in with Brady because they secretly do not have enough faith with Tannehill? It is a very big decision that may change the course and history of the franchise as we know it. Super Bowl championships are remembered forever and AFC Championship appearances are not.