LA Chargers: Why signing Tom Brady was never a good idea

Roster Control

As reported by ESPN’s Dianna Russini and other reporters, Brady wanted control over the roster. He also wanted more decisive control over playcalling, which he obviously didn’t get in New England with Bill Belichick. He wanted to effectively be a playing general manager, which is what the Buccaneers ended up making him.

Does that sound familiar? To me, it sounds like the football version of Michael Jordan‘s GM-player stint with the Washington Wizards. Tom Telesco and Anthony Lynn are the people who should be making the decisions for the Chargers. The decisions shouldn’t be coming from a guy hell-bent on signing a troubled Antonio Brown who will be suspended for a large portion of the season.

It was time to walk away when Brady’s demands were getting out of hand. Belichick may wish that we washed his hands with Brady earlier, as according to ESPN’s Seth Wickersham, Belichick was unhappy about and didn’t support trading Jimmy Garoppolo.

He destroyed any chance the Patriots had of having a succession plan after him. That’s what Brady would’ve been for the Chargers. Electing him president of the roster and making Telesco effectively a puppet for the remainder of his Chargers’ tenure would’ve been incredibly disrespectful to the front office.

This is not to say Telesco or Lynn should be without fault for decisions that have been made. They’ve both made bad decisions in certain spots. However, they both deserve to be judged on their own merits when considering their performance. They don’t deserve to be judged on not acquiring who Brady wanted or what play he demands they run.