Tom Brady Rumors: Robert Kraft Won't Intervene With Negotiations; Two Teams Out Of Mix
BOSTON (CBS) -- Teams will be lining up to sign Tom Brady if he hits free agency on March 18. But as the world tries to figure out where Brady will be playing football next season, we now know a few teams that won't be vying for the future Hall of Famer this offseason.
And -- more importantly -- we now know a particular someone who won't be throwing their ring-covered hand into the negotiations.
According to Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, the New York Giants and Indianapolis Colts won't be pursuing Brady if he hits free agency in a few weeks.
"The Giants and Colts aren't among those suitors," Breer wrote on Monday. "You can cross them off the list. I was told pretty emphatically that neither will be in the mix if Brady does make it to free agency."
Breer wrote that the L.A. Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders, Tennessee Titans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are among the teams that will be going after Brady this offseason. He's giving the Patriots and Titans each a 40 percent chance at landing Brady, giving the remaining 20 percent to the field.
"My understanding is that Brady is open to returning to the Patriots, under certain terms. Likewise, I've heard Belichick is open to bringing him back, under certain terms," Breer wrote. "What's left is for the two to sit down and see if one guy's terms can match the other guy's terms."
Breer said the meeting between Brady and Belichick will happen, but it's being held up by the NFL CBA negotiations. He also reported that Patriots owner Robert Kraft will not intervene to make sure Brady finishes his career in New England:
Kraft knows that jumping in and making sure Brady retires a Patriot against Belichick's wishes would likely be an enormously destructive move. If he does that, how is Belichick going to react? What would that do to the Brady/Belichick relationship, if Brady knew Belichick didn't want him anymore and Belichick had Brady forced upon him? Worse, what would that do to the Kraft/Belichick dynamic?
The 77-year-old has been an NFL owner for 26 seasons. He's seen those sorts of things happen in the past. And he's too smart to make that kind of mistake here.
With the Brady sweepstakes just over two weeks away, the news surrounding the quarterback is starting to get a lot more interesting.