Pros and cons behind Tom Brady’s most likely destinations

4. Los Angeles Chargers

Many analysts and fans seem to consider the Los Angeles Chargers the favorite to actually land Brady this spring. While we’re not quite as bullish on L.A.’s chances as them, there is some rhyme and reason to their logic.

Philip Rivers, the longtime QB for the Bolts, is gone. The Chargers have suffered through a couple seasons of playing in a temporary home in Los Angeles that’s usually infested with road team fans. Adding Brady to the mix would presumably change that a bit, as more locals would want to come out to see the living legend play before he walks away forever.

PROS:

Brady would have a chance to play in a brand new stadium. SoFi Stadium is on track to open this summer, meaning the Chargers and their neighbors, the Los Angeles Rams, will finally get to play their home games in the NFL’s premier new stadium.

Los Angeles is already a familiar place for Brady. He spends chunks of his offseason training in Southern California, and he’s no stranger to the Hollywood lifestyle as an A-list celebrity who frequently appears on talk shows and makes cameos in films and television shows. He’s also married to a supermodel, lest anyone forget.

From a football standpoint, the Chargers offer one of the best one-two punches in the league at running back in Melvin Gordon and Austin Ekeler. Ekeler, in particular, feels like he’s destined to play with Brady at some point. He’s a pass-catching running back who’s equally effective running the ball up the middle or catching it in the flat, a la Patriot greats James White, Shane Vereen, Kevin Faulk, Danny Woodhead, etc.

L.A. also has a terrific head coach in Anthony Lynn, one of the best wide receivers in the league in Keenan Allen, and an up-and-coming tight end in Hunter Henry. To top it all off, their defense is well above-average as well.

In short, this is a great football team.

CONS:

Several of the names mentioned above are free agents this spring. There’s a decent chance that at the very least, both Gordon and Henry will leave town, whether or not Brady gets inked.

Gordon has made it abundantly clear that he feels undervalued and underappreciated by the Bolts, so he’s likely to sign anywhere else if the money’s right. Henry seems to be in the Chargers’ long-term plans, but if another team desperate for tight end help (ie. the Patriots maybe) offers him enough money, it might be hard for L.A. to match or beat.

It’s assumed that Brady wants to play in a large-market town like Los Angeles, but that’s not necessarily a guarantee.

L.A. is notorious for being hard on its stars, and while Brady probably wouldn’t have any issue dealing with all the public scrutiny at this point in his life, there’s a chance still that he’d rather play somewhere a bit more peaceful and less intense in the twilight of his career.

The biggest con against Los Angeles though is that the team shares a division with the Kansas City Chiefs. As Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner recently pointed out, it doesn’t make a ton of sense for Brady to join a division with the other preeminent quarterback in the conference right now.