Vic Fangio calls Ahmad Brooks trade rumors 'out of line'

Vic Fangio made his weekly KNBR appearance Tuesday morning, and he had a chance to comment on the weekend report that Ahmad Brooks was almost traded. Over the weekend, Jay Glazer reported that a deal was almost done, but the San Francisco 49ers backed out late in discussions. Glazer said a mid-round pick was potentially in play in any such deal.

Fangio was asked about the rumors and Brooks's play, and he said the report was "way out of line." You can listen to the full interview HERE.

"You know it was never mentioned to me before the trade deadline ended, and I would think that if there was any seriousness going on along those ways, that Trent would have mentioned it to me. And he never did, so I think those reports are way out of line."

I am inclined to believe that the 49ers did make some kind of inquiries about potentially dealing Brooks. It could be that they were approached on Brooks, or they made some calls around the league. I believe that most of the rumors that get out there are based in some semblance of truth. The question of course is to what extent that truth is part of the report. Are we talking about something that is 100 percent accurate, something that is maybe 5 percent accurate, or something in between.

Glazer's source said it was pretty late into negotiations, but if his source is with the Browns, we would not be able to get a firm handle on the 49ers side of the negotiations. Fangio's comments could mean one of a few things. First, Baalke tried to do a deal and never told Fangio. Second, Baalke made some calls, but things did not get overly serious in his mind, so he did not tell Fangio. Third, he told Fangio and Fangio does not want to create any further drama for Brooks since he ended up not being dealt. I'm inclined to think it's the second one because Fangio does not strike me as the kind of guy who covers for people, but who knows.

We'll never know for certain what any of this means, and people will interpret all this however they want. I do like the notion of being able to know what's going on, and these media reports do at least attempt to shed some light on a given situation. The problem is that we never know the full context, so it is important to take everything with a certain grain of salt. I don't think Glazer made up the Brooks rumor, but I also am inclined to think this was not as far along as Glazer's source would like to think. Of course, if it turns out his source was Baalke, Fangio or Harbaugh, feel free to ignore all this!