Tom Brady may not yet know where he plays in 2020, but judging by his statements made since the New England Patriots’ season-ending loss last Saturday it sure sounds like he will be back on the football field next year. Not only did he call a retirement “pretty unlikely” during his postgame press conference and later echoed the thought during an interview with NBC Sports’ Peter King, he also took to Instagram on Wednesday to basically repeat it.
Brady shared a post reflecting on the season that was and concluded it by saying that he will be back in the arena and that he still felt as if he had more to prove.
“I just wanted to say to all of our fans, THANK YOU!” Brady and/or his social media team wrote in the statement. “After a few days of reflection, I am so grateful and humbled by the unconditional support you have shown me the past two decades. Running out of that tunnel every week is a feeling that is hard to explain. I wish every season ended in a win, but that’s not the nature of sports (or life). Nobody plays to lose.”
“But the reward for working hard is just that, the work! I have been blessed to find a career I love, teammates who go to battle with me, an organization that believes in me, and fans who have been behind us every step of the way,” the 42-year-old added. “Every one of us that works at Gillette Stadium strived to do their best, spent themselves at a worthy cause, and prepared to fail while daring greatly (h/t Teddy Roosevelt).”
“And for that, we’ve been rewarded with something that the scoreboard won’t show — the satisfaction of knowing we gave everything to each other in pursuit of a common goal. That is what TEAM is all about,” the statement continued. “In both life and football, failure is inevitable. You dont always win. You can, however, learn from that failure, pick yourself up with great enthusiasm, and place yourself in the arena again.”
“And that’s right where you will find me. Because I know I still have more to prove,” continued Brady.
As noted above, however, it remains to be seen where said arena will be: Brady’s contract with the Patriots is scheduled void on the first day of the new league year in mid-March and he will hit free agency if no new deal with the team is reached at that point. The next two months therefore project to be a back-and-forth between New England and Brady’s camp — one that will end with the quarterback either back with the Patriots or on the open market for the first time in his career.
The full Instagram post looks as follows: