The Colts were one of the many teams in the market for a quarterback this offseason and ultimately signed Philip Rivers to a one-year, $25 million deal.
They reportedly were in the mix for Tom Brady, but ultimately went with Rivers, who is four years younger than Brady.
Appearing on NFL Network Wednesday, Ian Rapoport explained why.
“They scouted Tom Brady extensively, along with several other quarterbacks and while Frank Reich talked about the things he loved about Brady, he thought the tape was phenomenal and obviously, Brady is one of the all-time greats. That goes without saying," he said. "They believed that Philip Rivers was a better fit for them in part because of the familiarity that he has with the offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni, with Frank Reich himself, with Jason Michael, the tight ends coach -- that was one factor.
"The other is Tom Brady signed a two-year fully guaranteed deal with the Bucs. It doesn’t seem like the Colts were willing to go there.”
Brady signed a two-year, $50 million deal with Tampa Bay.
Rapoport added the Colts looked into trading for Nick Foles and Andy Dalton before ultimately settling on Rivers.
“I don’t know if I’d say (Brady) wasn’t a fit," Reich said to reporters this week. "There’s always a fit when you have a great player, when you have maybe the best player of all time. There’s a lot of factors that go into these things.”
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