Is Tom Brady throwing shade toward Jimmy G on 'The Shop?' Twitter sleuths think so

Tom Brady seems to choose his words very carefully.

The Tampa Bay quarterback often comes across as awkward or boring when he actually might be doing whatever he can to avoid saying anything that could be construed as controversial or offensive.

Even when he tries to talk trash, it can sound scripted or forced.

So he couldn't have possibly meant what some folks think he meant in an extremely brief clip from his upcoming appearance on HBO's "The Shop: Uninterrupted," an unscripted conversation show presented by LeBron James and Maverick Carter.

Right?

Here's the quote from Brady in its entirety: “One of the teams, they weren’t interested at the very end. I was thinking, ‘You’re sticking with that m—?’”

That's it. But that was enough for many people to assume that Brady was discussing his free agency following the 2019 season. He left the New England Patriots after 20 years and six Super Bowl victories. Following a brief period of courtship with other teams, he landed with the Buccaneers, and won another Super Bowl with them last season.

The second part of Brady's comment, which sounds like it might have been meant to make a fellow quarterback look bad and himself look good, honestly could be said about all but a handful of starting quarterbacks in the NFL compared to the man widely considered to be the G.O.A.T. at the position.

But it does seem odd that someone so calculated and image driven would say something like that … never mind, the Twitter detectives have already cracked the case.

He's talking about the San Francisco 49ers and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, according to what seems to be the majority of the social-media sleuths.

There has long been speculation on the relationship Brady had with the man known as Jimmy G, who was his understudy in New England before the Patriots traded him to the 49ers in the middle of the 2017 season. At one point, Brady felt the need to go on record denying the rumors that he celebrated following the transaction that sent Garoppolo packing.

So it seems strange Brady would use such harsh words about Garoppolo all these years later.

Luckily, the episode premieres Friday night so we won't have to wait too long for a little more context on what sounds like an uncharacteristic comment from Brady.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.