Frustrated quarterbacks, take note. Change can sometimes be a good thing.
No one ever likes changing companies after spending most of their careers somewhere. You come in, you know what to expect, you know your way around, you know your coworkers, and it’s fairly easy to come in and take care of business and then go home to your family at night.
However, after a while, it becomes a little mundane and as soon as things start becoming a little difficult, it’s hard not to wonder if a new challenge somewhere else might be worth it.
In most cases, the devil you know is usually better than the one you don’t. So, you stay and just go with it.
Unless of course, someone you either know or work with goes somewhere else, and suddenly life becomes more fun and you’re staring at photos on social media of them smiling and laughing while you’re home dreading going to work tomorrow.
That’s likely what’s going on around the NFL this week after many veteran quarterbacks watched Tom Brady raise another Lombardi trophy barely one season after leaving the team where he won six previous titles.
Worse yet, Brady was smiling with teammate Rob Gronkowski, with both expressing for much of the season how happy they were in their new environment, seemingly having much more fun than they did with their former employer.
We’re starting to hear rumbles from other franchise quarterbacks, including guys like Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers, who are each likely spending this week looking at what Brady just did and are probably wondering whether or not a fresh start might also make sense for them.
Both players have already had the taste of what it’s like to win a title, and it’s been quite a while since either one last did it. Wilson’s championship run came 7-years ago back in 2013/14, while Rodgers lone Super Bowl win was a decade ago back in 2010/11.
Since then, it’s been nothing but frustration for both players, with Wilson getting knocked out by Brady the following year after he blew up his own chances with an interception to Malcolm Butler with the game on the line to crush the Seahawks Super Bowl aspirations.
For Rodgers, he’s been knocked out in the NFC Championship round for two-straight years, with Jimmy Garoppolo and Brady each leaving him watching the game on TV instead of playing in it.
The Packers quarterback was fuming about it after his most recent loss, wondering about his own future. This week, it’s been Wilson making similar comments.
As a result, both Wilson and Rodgers are now likely finding themselves wondering if a change may be what they need if they hope to get back there.
However, Brady’s accomplishment was likely a wake-up call for other quarterbacks who aren’t happy in their current situations. If nothing else, it proved that a change can sometimes make a difference in rejuvenating someone and making them perform at their best. Brady looked relaxed and at ease during Tampa’s win, adding yet another ring to an already unbelievable list of accomplishments.
Even better, Brady proved it could be done and he did it in just one season. It’s hard to believe that a few of these guys aren’t looking at that and becoming a little less apprehensive about moving on.
Rodgers is likely tired of coming up short and, after the loss, he looked about as disheartened as we’ve ever seen him. Photos of Wilson, who was at the Super Bowl and looked completely miserable, have been circulating on Twitter from that night and his comments this week certainly make you wonder how long it might be before Pete Carroll could watch his star QB potentially throw up his hands and want out.
Either way, as easy as it sounds to just dismiss some of this talk as simple offseason chatter, what Brady did Sunday night could make these scenarios we continue hearing about become a little less unthinkable than they may have seemed, setting up what could potentially be an interesting ripple-effect this offseason.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
