When the 49ers first tried to trade for Jimmy Garoppolo early in the 2017 offseason, general manager John Lynch was rebuffed by Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, who told Lynch that Garoppolo was unavailable. But after the Patriots traded Jimmy G to the 49ers months later, Fox Sports' Jay Glazer reported that Lynch asked Belichick if he'd be willing to trade Tom Brady since he was unwilling to trade Jimmy Garoppolo. "Lynch calls back and actually asks Bell Belichick, 'All right, so if Garoppolo's off limits, would you trade us Tom Brady?''" Glazer said in November. "And Belichick said, 'What did you just ask me?'" MORE 49ERS: Despite quiet summer, 49ers' Pierre Garcon viewed as 'same guy' Now, Lynch himself is confirming he did indeed ask the Patriots if they'd be willing to send Tom Brady to the Bay Area. While appearing on Barstool Sports' "Pardon My Take" podcast, Lynch said that when he asked Belichick if he'd trade Tom Brady, the Patriots' coach laughed at him. "Yeah we were calling about Jimmy and we did have that conversation and got quickly rebuffed," Lynch said. "I figured what the heck, you gotta take your shot right? You can't score if you don't shoot, so I had to summon up the courage. Bill laughed at me and basically hung up on me. But hey, I took my shot." RELATED: 49ers' Kyle Shanahan on Jimmie Ward's latest injury: 'I feel for him' Obviously, the Patriots did not trade Tom Brady to the 49ers and held on to both quarterbacks going into the 2017 season. Garoppolo was ultimately traded in October.<doc-sep>John Lynch has done an admirable job since taking over as the general manger of the wayward San Francisco 49ers, but his shining achievement thus far is engineering the trade for Jimmy Garoppolo. The Patriots held tightly to their backup quarterback — pegged as the heir to Tom Brady’s kingdom in New England — for as long as possible. However, with Brady improbably playing MVP-caliber football at the age of 40, they faced an easy decision — trade him or lose him and get nothing for the four years he spent learning behind the GOAT. So Belichick traded his baby to the San Francisco 49ers, and the rest is history. Actually, the Garoppolo era has hardly begun — but for fans of the team, it was as monumental an acquisition as they’d seen in the last decade. Still, imagine if they’d gotten Brady? It seems insane, because it is, and Lynch was fully aware of that when he broached the topic during his first (unsuccessful) attempt to lure Garoppolo away from New England. During his appearance on the “Pardon My Take” podcast, Lynch confirmed Jay Glazer’s 2017 report that he actually did inquire about Brady before being laughed off the other end of the phone by Bill Belichick. Via “Pardon My Take”: PMT: Did you ask for Tom Brady? Lynch: I’m not supposed to talk about that. [laughter] Lynch: Yeah, we were calling about Jimmy, and we did have that conversation and got quickly rebuffed. I figured, ‘You know, what the heck, you’ve got to take your shot, right? You can’t score if you don’t shoot.’ So I had to summon up the courage — and yeah, Bill laughed at me. He basically hung up on me, but hey, I took my shot. That phone call actually took place early in the 2017 offseason, before the NFL Draft, when the Patriots were still unwilling to hear any trade offers for Garoppolo. However Lynch and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan kept the young QB on their radar. Still, the hosts of the podcast wondered if the 49ers had Garoppolo on the brain when they passed on taking a quarterback in that draft. Via “Pardon My Take”: “I would say that because we made an effort and were quickly rebuffed, we kind of thought, ‘OK, move on from that option,'” said Lynch. He was a guy that kept showing up [on a list of qualities they were looking for in a QB] because he does some things you can’t teach. “We were probably emboldened by the fact that the free agent class was going to be a lot of options. And then the Garoppolo thing came out of nowhere.” It’s an interesting story if only because Garoppolo has been at the center of much of the rumored strain between Brady and Belichick since the 2017 season, with some implying that the head coach was furious about having to give up the QB he’d groomed for years, and others insinuating that Brady had become petulant about feeling he had to compete with Garoppolo. So Lynch’s story raises the question: If Belichick was initially unwilling to trade Garoppolo but also completely laughed off the idea of trading Brady, what exactly was his plan?<doc-sep>Jason E. Miczek/Associated Press San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch pulled off a trade for Jimmy Garoppolo at the 2018 NFL trade deadline. But that didn't stop him from rolling the dice on asking for Tom Brady. "We were calling about Jimmy and we did have that conversation and got quickly rebuffed," Lynch said on Barstool Sports' Pardon My Take podcast. "I figured, 'What the heck, you gotta take your shot, right? You can't score if you don't shoot.' I had to summon up the courage and Bill [Belichick] laughed at me and basically hung up on me. But hey, I took my shot." The 49ers traded a 2018 second-round pick for Garoppolo, who quickly established himself as their franchise quarterback. He threw for 1,560 yards and seven touchdowns against five interceptions in 2017, winning every game he started for the 49ers. "I've always had that mindset," Garoppolo told Bleacher Report's Joon Lee when asked if he thought he was better than Brady. "I knew that [Brady] was better than me in my first day in the NFL. Naturally, you're the rookie and he's the veteran, but you have to have that mindset, that you want to be the starter. "Even when I was a little kid, my brothers, whenever we would play, I would literally always think I was going to win. I wouldn't, but I would always think that. It's like when I go to New England, when I first got there, I thought in my head, 'I'm better than this dude.'" Suffice it to say the 49ers are satisfied with their choice. Garoppolo signed a five-year, $137.5 million contract this offseason, locking him in as the face of the franchise. Video Play Button Videos you might like Brady became the oldest player in NFL history to win the MVP and led the Patriots to another Super Bowl appearance. His age (41) might have made him a trade target if Bill Belichick wanted to go all-in on Garoppolo, but it's pretty clear the Patriots are going to keep riding Brady's hot hand until he retires.<doc-sep>
Hey, at least it was worth a try. Back in November of 2017, a report surfaced stating San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch asked the New England Patriots earlier in the year if they were interested in Tom Brady. The 49ers, who at the time were leaving no stone unturned in their search for a franchise quarterback, contacted the Patriots about acquiring then-backup Jimmy Garoppolo only to be told no. After that, Lynch figured he might as well go for broke and ask if the Patriots might be willing to shop Brady if they weren't willing to move Garoppolo. Not surprisingly, it didn't work. Lynch confirmed during an interview on the August 27 edition of the Pardon My Take Podcast that he did indeed once ask about Brady but was told no by Bill Belichick, in no uncertain terms. After originally responding to Pardon My Take's question of if he tried to trade for Brady with "I’m not supposed to talk about that," Lynch gave a brief account of what happened. "We were calling about Jimmy and we did have that conversation and got quickly rebuffed," Lynch said. "I figured, ‘What the heck, you gotta take your shot, right? You can’t score if you don’t shoot.’" Lynch then described the reaction of Bill Belichick, whom he played under for a brief time in the preseason of 2008. "I had to summon up the courage and Bill laughed at me and basically hung up on me," Lynch said. "But hey, I took my shot." John Lynch confirmed that he asked for Tom Brady in a trade last year, only to immediately be laughed off the phone pic.twitter.com/Oiw7COzKkE — Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) August 27, 2018 Of course, things worked out for Lynch and the 49ers in the end. After saying no at first when it came to Garoppolo, the Patriots came to the 49ers in October of 2017 looking to deal. New England's interest in moving Garoppolo came as a surprise to the 49ers, but they quickly said yes, sending a second-round pick in New England's direction in return. In February of 2018, the 49ers decided to make Garoppolo their franchise quarterback with a new contract paying him $137.5 million over five years. "I would say that because we made an effort and were quickly rebuffed, we kind of thought ‘Okay, move on from that option,’" Lynch told Pardon My Take. "He was a guy that kept showing up. Kyle (49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan) does a great job at having a library at each position – ‘These are the traits we are looking for.’ Garoppolo kept showing up on the quarterback (list) because he does some things that you can’t teach that you look for at that position. There was a throw the other night in a preseason game (against Dallas) – DeMarcus Lawrence breathing down on him, he’s got zero space and that quick release just gets the ball (out). Those types of things kept showing up. "There wasn’t a huge sample size, but when you’re blessed like that, we thought it was worth taking a look when the opportunity presented itself. Then he came in there and showed us that not only does he have the talent, he also has everything else you want in a guy who’s your guy. He just kind of (grew) on us and his teammates, made everybody around better, and we locked him up and we’re glad we did."