When Tom Brady became a free agent in 2020, everyone knew that San Francisco was a place he would love to land. He grew up in the Bay area idolizing Joe Montana. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan reportedly was eager to go after and trade for Brady. However, the franchise's brass talked him out of it. Instead opting to draft Trey Lance with the third overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, according to NFL writer Dov Kleiman.

Brady, of course, would go on to win his seventh Super Bowl title that season. Meanwhile, Lance is staring at a season chalk full of pressure as the starting quarterback in San Francisco this year. Shanahan allegedly valued accuracy and intelligence over athleticism when it came to building the offense. Brady obviously checks those boxes, but is not fleet afoot.

Okay, so the 49ers higher ups didn't want to go after Brady. Well, according to Kleiman, Shanahan's next choice was Mac Jones out of Alabama.

Once again, he was convinced otherwise. The 49ers ended up settling on Lance as their choice in the draft. Jones took a 7-10 New England Patriots team devoid of talent to the playoffs last year. Meanwhile, Lance sat and learned from Jimmy Garoppolo. He has reportedly struggled with accuracy during training camp, which is a hallmark in Shanahan's offense.

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Shanahan got to see first hand what Tom Brady could do. He was the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons in 2016 when Brady led the Patriots back from a 28-3 deficit to win the Super Bowl 34-28. It remains the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history. Brady happens to also own the second largest comeback in Super Bowl history beating the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 after trailing by 10 points in the fourth quarter.