49ers considered Brady for 2023
According to comments from 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, the 2023 rumors about Tom Brady potentially coming out of retirement for a second time and playing for his hometown team weren’t as crazy as they might have initially sounded.
In a recent interview with NBC Sports, Shanahan — who is set to lead San Francisco into the second Super Bowl appearance of his 49ers tenure — explained he sincerely considered a spot for Brady prior to the start of last season.
“Yes, I was serious about it,” Shanahan said.
The circumstances favored a potential move: At the time, Brock Purdy was coming off a strong rookie season, but was still recovering from offseason elbow surgery.
“As we talked, I’m looking at Brock, and he’s got his arm in a sling,” Shanahan explained, “and I really am not sure I’ve got a quarterback who’s going to be ready for the start of the 2023 season. That started all of this.”
Brady, having retired for the second time earlier in the year, grew up a 49ers fan in the Bay Area.
After not signing Brady when he was a free agent in 2020, Shanahan and the San Francisco front office changed course in 2023. It was, he told NBC Sports, simply an attempt to solidify his team’s chances in the short term as insurance on Purdy.
Chiefs’ Kelce has hands full
One night after Taylor Swift earned her fourth career Grammy for album of the year, her boyfriend was feeling pressure to secure his own triumph in the Super Bowl.
“She’s unbelievable, she’s rewriting the history books herself,” Travis Kelce said. “I told her I’ll have to hold up my end of the bargain and bring home some hardware, too.”
The romance between Swift and Kelce, which NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he “couldn’t have scripted,” has been the talk of the league, with her appearances at Chiefs games generating intense interest from her legion of Swifties.
“She’s definitely brought a lot of new faces to the game and it’s been fun to experience that,” the Chiefs tight end said. “She seems to be enjoying the games and she’s a part of Chiefs Kingdom right now. It’s fun seeing her enjoy the game of football knowing that it’s kind of new to her life.”
Mahomes mum on father
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said his father was “doing good” after his arrest for driving while intoxicated, but otherwise was tight-lipped about the situation.
“It's a family matter, so I'll keep it to the family,” Mahomes said at Super Bowl opening night in Las Vegas. “That's all I have to say.”
His dad, former major league pitcher
was arrested Saturday night in Tyler, Texas.
49ers practice as scheduled
The 49ers will practice at UNLV's campus as scheduled despite having initial worries about the condition of the field.
The Niners had expressed concern to the league that the field is too soft even though NFL inspectors cleared it for safety. Sod was recently placed over the turf field on UNLV’s campus for the 49ers to use this week.
Shanahan told reporters the field had been improving every day since the team initially looked at it last week. The 49ers held a walkthrough on the field Monday and will practice there starting Wednesday as scheduled.
“We’re not worried about it at all," Shanahan said. "It is what it is. We’re here and we won’t change anything.”
Father-daughter on the call
The Super Bowl will be a broadcasting family affair.
Veteran radio play-by-play announcer
Kevin Harlan and his daughter, sideline reporter Olivia Harlan Dekker, will become the first father-and-daughter duo to cover and call a Super Bowl.
“You think of it like the accolades of your career that will end up meaning anything, when all of this is said and done and something you’ll tell grandchildren about and that they’ll tell grandchildren about, and that’s really something to be proud of generationally,” Harlan Dekker said.