ESPN has revealed that Kyle Shanahan tried to make Tom Brady his starting quarterback in 2023 as he tried to coax the seven-time Super Bowl winner out of retirement prior to the start of the season.

Brock Purdy has proven his value as a franchise quarterback and just fired the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game. But Shanahan could have ruined all that by bringing Brady out of retirement as he would have benched his rising star in favor of the 46-year-old.

That’s according to Purdy himself.

“Early in the offseason, Niners coach Kyle Shanahan sat down with Purdy and assured him that if he was healthy he would be the starter unless Brady wanted to play one more season for his hometown Niners,” ESPN reported ahead of Saturday’s Divisional Round game between the Niners and Packers.

“An ecstatic Purdy understood the logic, but the competitor in him also bubbled under the surface. “That meant so much to me,” Purdy said. “I remember him saying, if we can get Tom Brady, we’re going to try to get him. And I was like, ‘Yeah, he’s the GOAT. I get it.’ But something deep down inside me was sort of like, ‘Dude, I just showed you that I can play well in this system. And we were one game away from the Super Bowl.’ … More than anything, I was like, ‘OK, now let’s go.’”

He didn’t go for Brady in 2020 because he thought he was past it, favoring Jimmy Garoppolo instead. But he tried his best to get him now that he’s really past it, a move which could have stunted Purdy’s growth.