Tom Brady had interest in Colts, but Colts didn’t have interest in Brady

[Captain Fear]

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The Colts will pay quarterback Philip Rivers $25 million for one year. The Buccaneers will pay quarterback Tom Brady $50 million for two years. Dollar for dollar, the Bucs got the better deal.

So why didn’t the Colts, if they were willing to invest $25 million in the quarterback position, make a run at Brady?

Peter King reports in his Football Morning in America column that the “Brady camp had interest in Indianapolis,” but that “the Colts seemed to be set on . . . Rivers on a shorter deal.”

Apart from the fact that the Colts were looking for a one-year bridge quarterback (which is significant), the Colts may have wondered whether Brady’s interest was legitimate — or whether he was hoping that the Colts would do just enough to get the Patriots to wake up. More than five years later, there’s still plenty of bad blood regarding #DeflateGate, and even if Brady were willing to set it aside and sign with Indy, the Patriots may have moved heaven and earth to stop that from happening.

The Colts have been down that road, more than two years ago. They had a deal in place with Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to succeed Chuck Pagano as head coach, and then the Patriots convinced McDaniels to stay.

So if the Colts had done the dance with Brady and ultimately had lost him to the Patriots, the Colts also may have lost Rivers, too. Thus, they opted to reel in Rivers while they could, without having to worry about Brady going back to New England in lieu of signing with the Colts.