After almost a whole two days of talking about real Patriots news and the draft, the focus was ripped back away from football and back to the 2017 season and just how happy Tom Brady really is after he sat down for a rare offseason interview with Jim Gray. His lengthy talk gave plenty of fodder to whichever side you choose to take in the spring of the Patriots’ alleged discontent.
No matter what you want to believe, the remaining fact is Brady will be quarterbacking in Patriots training camp in July, where football betting lines still have New England as Super Bowl favorites. We are of course nearing the end of the Belichick-Brady run, and things have certainly evolved, but the important issue — going after Super Bowl 53 — remains unchanged and unlikely affected.
It didn’t take long before the warring factions who cover and follow the Patriots started trading jabs over Brady’s answers. One side focused myopically on Brady’s “plead the fifth” comment at the start, while the other pointed to Brady’s later comments on how much respect he has for Bill Belichick, and around and around we go. Social media can be so fun these days.
The truth, as always, is somewhere in the middle. And as usual, the arguments are often in bad faith. Brady is clearly transitioning to the end phase of his career. He’s making more time for his family and he’s training his way. He has said those things implicitly a number of times. He knows Belichick can no longer unexpectedly ship him out of town so he’s doing what he wants.
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