Your Morning #Braxit Update: All Signs Point to Brady Staying
While I hate to disagree with the Going Deep social media guys, in the great internet debate of our age - the "What color is the dress?" or Yanny vs. Laurel of 2020 - I didn't hear Brady saying "He's not." I witnessed a man rolling his eyes at his bestest bud in the whole wide world trolling the human race and making it all awkward for him. All my ears detect is a "This guyyyyy." Because how can you not love having a guy Julian Edelman as your bosom chum? But all he really wanted to do was get the cameras out of his grill and get back to watching UNC at Syracuse.
But sure, the world is going to hear what they want to hear. People who've been waiting through the entire 21st century for Brady's reign of dominance to end on its own because nobody has been able to stop it are going to believe he declared his intention in the stands of a college basketball game in a muttered, barely audible aside to his pal. It's pure Confirmation Bias kicking in.
Of course I'm referring to people like Dan Shaughnessy of the Globe, who for 30 years has been put forward as the voice of the New England sports scene. That plugged in, man of the people, vox populi who has his thumb on the pulse of what Everyfan thinks and feels:
Because that's how we all spend the career of the most accomplished team sport athlete in the history of the region: By anxiously wanting it to end so we can get back to how things were in Shank's glory days when the quarterbacks sucked and the media was king and people bought books about curses. Funny, I don't recall many of John Henry's employees openly rooting for David Ortiz to go DH for the Angels or Orioles.
But I digress. Since all normal people who's only agenda is rooting interest in a Dynasty that only needs a few tweaks to compete for the next few Super Bowls want Brady to stay, there are positive signs all over the place that he has every intention of re-signing here. Beginning with this obvious clue:
Does anyone honestly think that if Brady's agent was hammering out a deal for him to go play for Mike Vrabel that Edelman would be hawking t-shirts begging him to stay? Sure, Minitron likes an easy buck as much as the next guy. But he's not going to invest in a shirt that will end up on the backs of impoverished kids in Third World countries once Brady is fielding questions at his "Welcome" press conference in Nashville. No chance in hell.
Even more relevantly, there's this report from Tom E. Curran, who, when it comes to credible reporting, is the anti-Shaughnessy:
First off, this is not a Cold War.
The Patriots want Tom Brady to play quarterback for them in 2020. There are financial hoops to jump through. There are personnel obstacles to clear. Understandings on both sides need to be reached.
But the Patriots want to try and make that happen.
There’s been no meeting, but it hasn’t been total radio silence – texts have been sent. Bill Belichick is not freezing Brady out. …
Where do things stand with Brady? It isn’t the lost cause it was reported to be. …
When I asked a source whether Brady had washed his hands of the Patriots, I was told, “Of course not. There’s an attachment there. You can’t be someplace for 20 years and not have an attachment. That’s just not who he is.”
Brady, I was told, will listen closely to what the Patriots have to say. …
[T]he one thing that’s sure to happen is this. Tom Brady and the Patriots are going to meet and – while it may be hard to keep him off the market – the team will try and the player will listen.
Imagine that. Actual reporting. Not ESPN stooges screaming guarantees about Brady being gone. Not uninformed opinions pulled straight out of keisters. People with direct knowledge of the situation saying what I've been saying all along. The nonsense about a "rift" is the same media creation it has been for over a decade now. Bill Belichick wants what he's always wanted, to do what's in the best interest of his football team and nothing else. They're in contact. They'll sit down to hammer out a deal. I do believe the CBA is a factor in this because the Patriots have never not looked at the big picture as they plan the year ahead, but it's not essential to getting a deal done. But Belichick will do things on his time table. He doesn't give a tuppenny fuck that we're all anxiously freaking out. He's got a plan. He'll execute it on his terms.
But in the end, neither man wants this arrangement to end. For Brady's last season to be a playoff one & done or his last play to be a Pick-6 in a loss where they scored 13 points. They both recognize the team needs a significant upgrade at tight end, better health and peformance at wide receiver and the blocking to improve. But they realize the best chance they each have to get that seventh ring that has eluded them for 13 months now is one another. And nothing that was barely picked up by a sideline camera mic at a college hoops game is going to have any bearing on that.