Shannon Sharpe Believes It Wasn’t a Coincidence That Tom Brady Mentioned the Patriots When Talking About Unretirement

Tom Brady has once again turned the rumor mills by sparking unretirement discussions just when everyone thought he was going to be an analyst. However, Shannon Sharpe was active in reading between the lines and he felt something fishy after TB12 named the Patriots almost instinctively during the conversation.

Not only did Brady name Patriots instinctively but it was the first of the two teams he uttered, the other being the Raiders. This conversation occurred just a season after fans were curious to see him don the Raiders jersey amidst persistent discussions of him becoming a part owner of the franchise despite a weak QB room.

Reading between the lines, Shannon Sharpe believed that Brady interrupting the interviewee to drag the Patriots into the conversation appeared more calculated than coincidental now that Bill Belichick is not part of the franchise.

“That’s not an accident,” Sharpe said. “All this notion, ‘Tom was ready to leave’, Bill Belichick pushed Tom Brady out of the door… Tom wasn’t ready to leave New England. Don’t you let anybody convince you of that. He had got tired of coach Belichick’s bulljive. Coach Belichick believed that he could win a Super Bowl without Tom Brady and there would be no doubt that he was the reason for the success.”

It was certainly a clever way to connect the dots but as it appears Chad Johnson didn’t feel the Patriots would be the right choice for the 46-year-old QB, who would turn 47 by the time the season starts.

Chad Johnson Feels Tom Brady Would Do Good If He Unretires

Chad Johnson at the start of the conversation was crystal clear that Tom Brady would do perfectly fine in this new age football where the NFL has handicapped the defenses with new rules. That said he was skeptical if the Patriots would be a good landing spot for him since the team isn’t what it used to be a few years ago.

He posed a thoughtful question to Shannon claiming that the supporting cast matters for him to return. “What happens if you put Tom Brady on the Patriots, not the Patriots but you put Tom Brady in place of Brock Purdy?” he said.

46-year old @TomBrady ran a faster 40-yard dash than he did at the combine over 20 years ago 👀

(via @nobull) pic.twitter.com/QP1lda50gG

— NFL (@NFL) February 29, 2024

Now that Tom Brady has gone vocal about his intentions to return, one might think that Brady beating his own 40-yard combine dash at the age of 46 was a marketing move rather than a personal goal.