Getty Images

Tom Brady’s idol, who left the team with which he won four Super Bowls, thought Brady should stay in New England. Another Hall of Fame quarterback who changed teams late in his career told Brady to embrace the opportunity to start over.

“I spoke to Tom briefly at the Super Bowl,” Brett Favre said Wednesday on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “They did the Top 100 and we had a chance to visit a little bit. I didn’t say, ‘What are you gonna do?’ I just said, ‘Hey, if you’re thinking about going elsewhere,’ I said, ‘Go for it.’ And he asked me, if I had it to do over again would I do it the same way. And I would.”

Favre forced his way from the Packers to the Jets after the Packers nudged Favre into a February retirement that by July he regretted. After a failed season with the Jets, Favre nearly returned to the Super Bowl with the Vikings.

“It wasn’t as successful as I’d hoped in New York but I’m glad I had that opportunity,” Favre said. “His situation obviously is different than mine. There’s no reason to think they didn’t want him back in New England, it would be dumb not to, and I know they wanted him back. But I think he just wanted to try his hand at something else and, knowing he can still play, just see if he can do the magic that he’s done with New England with another team. I certainly think he can. And I do think it is a good fit for him. I think they have a very good team and they are much better now. And adding [Rob] Gronkowski only makes them even better.”

Favre has no concern about Brady hurting his legacy in Tampa.

“More than likely [Brady] will enhance his legacy, if anything,” Favre said. “Look, it’s his prerogative first of all, what he wants and can do. What he’s done I don’t think we’ll see in the next two generations. It’s almost impossible what he accomplished. He’s just that good. Why fault a guy for wanting to try his hand somewhere else? He still feels like he can play. I certainly think he can play at the highest of levels.”

Favre added a caveat for 2020 based on the absence of an offseason training program. Plenty of league observers believe that Brady will find a way to get on the same page with his new teammates, possibly via secret training sessions that may not necessarily comply with stay-at-home orders or social-distancing guidelines. Brady, who recently was booted from a closed park in Tampa while working out there, will want to do whatever he has to do to win, coronavirus and anyone or anything else that may get in the way be damned.