Early Thursday morning, ESPN insider Jeff Darlington said on television that he would be “stunned” if Tom Brady re-signed with the New England Patriots at this point.
To be clear, this wasn’t just Darlington’s personal opinion or hypothesis on the end result of this highly-publicized situation either — this was supposedly an ironclad takeaway from a respected reporter with sources very close to Brady himself.
A report later followed that said Brady is “currently operating under the belief that he will enter free agency to play somewhere other than New England next season, a sentiment the quarterback has shared with others.