John Lynch shares funny story about asking for Tom Brady in trade

San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch pulled off what could wind up being one of the best trades in NFL history last season, but he was apparently aiming even higher when he managed to pry Jimmy Garoppolo away from the New England Patriots.

Not long after the Patriots sent Garoppolo to San Francisco in exchange for a second-round pick, there was a report that Lynch asked about the possibility of acquiring Tom Brady. In a recent appearance on the “Pardon My Take” podcast, Lynch admitted he asked about Brady and shared some entertaining details of a conversation he had with Bill Belichick.

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

“We did have that conversation,” Lynch said. “Got quickly rebuffed. 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. Bill laughed at me and basically hung up on me, but I took my shot.”

The Patriots are said to have had better offers for Garoppolo, but Belichick chose to send him to the 49ers because he believed he would succeed under head coach Kyle Shanahan. While there was a question at one point earlier this year about whether Lynch was trolling Belichick on Twitter, there’s obviously plenty of mutual respect between the two if they were able to work out the Garoppolo trade. As someone who insists he always does what is best for his football team, Belichick can’t blame Lynch for trying to trade for a four-time Super Bowl MVP.