Michael Irvin earths can of worms he opened with Brady-to-Cowboys Prescott talk

The Tom-Brady-to-Dallas theory simply doesn’t hold much water when looked at through the lens of common football sense. He’s 42 years old. His skills and stats have taken a noticeable dip. Yes, he’s the most decorated quarterback to ever take a …

The Tom-Brady-to-Dallas theory simply doesn’t hold much water when looked at through the lens of common football sense. He’s 42 years old. His skills and stats have taken a noticeable dip. Yes, he’s the most decorated quarterback to ever take a snap, but he’s played his entire career under one coach in one system that was built for him. This is who some think is really the answer for the Cowboys? Who are, themselves, revamping the organization with a new head coach? A coach just happens to be a quarterback-whisperer type who ostensibly took the job because- at least in part- of Dak Prescott? Who himself just happens to be a 26-year-old coming off his best season as a pro and has all the goods to be the long-term solution on a roster already loaded with young talent?

It just doesn’t pass the sniff test. But this is the offseason for America’s Team, so logic need not apply. Jerry-Jones-should-pay-Tom-Brady-whatever-he-wants is just too hot a take, too clickable a headline for some not to go off the deep end with it. And now Cowboys legend Michael Irvin has inadvertently stepped into the middle of the madness.

The Hall of Fame receiver spoke to Boston radio station WEEI on Friday and was asked for his thoughts on a hypothetical scenario that has Dallas placing a franchise tag on Prescott and signing Brady when free agency begins.

“I’m just telling you right now, at the Super Bowl in Miami, some very significant people that I had some conversations [with were] leaning in that same direction,” Irvin told the station’s Dale & Keefe. “It was shocking. I had a vodka cranberry in my hand and when they said it to me, I put the drink down and said, ‘Let’s talk a little bit more about this.’ I promise you, I had a conversation with people, I can’t tell you who, about that same scenario going down. And I was like, ‘I just don’t know if there’s a real possibility of that happening.'”

Irvin’s tale is brimming with red flags right from the jump. First of all, the conversation took place during Super Bowl Week in Miami. By the Playmaker’s own admission, alcohol was flowing. There were no doubt lots of outrageous and fantastical things being said under similar circumstances. Second, Irvin doesn’t name the “significant people.” Significant in what way? Significant to whom? And third, Irvin said- literally within seconds of hearing it- that he immediately doubted the likelihood of Brady signing with Dallas.

But despite the lack of any details, many media outlets raced to spread the story that Michel Irvin, a longtime member of the Cowboys inner circle, had suggested a Brady deal was coming. Some began speculating that the “significant people” Irvin cited were themselves Cowboys insiders or possibly even team management.

By Friday night, reporters were busy working to either confirm or deny what they could.

But rumors of the NFL’s most loved/hated player going to the NFL’s most loved/hated team had taken on a life of their own. Irvin himself took to social media over the weekend to try to set the record straight.

Some of the same outlets who had reported that Irvin was leaking team intel now claimed that the three-time Super Bowl champ was “clarifying” or “walking back” his earlier comments, when in fact, they had simply been reported incorrectly to begin with. Irvin was still addressing the fallout via his Twitter account Monday morning.

But no retraction or clarification could chop off the legs that the story had already grown. The whole mess had become fodder for the morning shows. ESPN’s Dan Graziano tried to put out the firestorm on Monday’s Get Up, saying, “I believe the Dallas Cowboys’ plan is for Dak Prescott to be their quarterback. And I don’t think that this is something that’s being talked about at any serious level in their building.”

Graziano did admit, though, that the story’s breaking-news buzz probably doesn’t hurt the front office as they work through contract negotiations with Prescott.

“It’s not bad for the Cowboys and Jerry and Stephen Jones if this is out there, right?” he spitballed. “You talk about leverage, right? If Dak Prescott has it in his head, ‘Oh, they might replace me with Tom Brady, maybe…’ It’s all about pushing the guy toward you in the negotiation.”

Team executive vice president Stephen Jones said just last week that talks with Prescott were “fixin’ to heat up.” He told the Dallas Morning News on Friday- the same day that Irvin told his vodka cranberry story- that the organization’s goal was to avoid using the franchise tag on Prescott.

After a weekend of flustered story chasing, Irvin joined Dallas’ 105.3 The Fan and put an end to the ordeal, grounding the rumors in the reality that he never said the Cowboys front office were the significant people he mentioned.

Rumor officially ended, well at least this one. Until something definitive happens, Prescott theories will be all over the airwaves… and all over the map. And until New England and Brady figure out their mutual status moving forward, some of those theories will undoubtedly involve Tom Terrific wearing a blue star, even with Irvin’s recent statements.

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