Tom Brady Says He Still Has More to Prove

After Tom Brady looked more like a man in his forties playing quarterback than he ever had, there were rumblings among the football crowd that he might retire after this season. He'll be 43 when 2020 kicks off, he's selling his house in Massachusetts, and seems to be making the slow but sure steps towards hanging up the cleats. Add in the team's struggles this year, and retirement seemed more likely than ever.

Brady said he didn't anticipate retiring after New England's wild card loss, and told Peter King something similar the day after the fact. He has now returned to social media to reiterate that he will indeed be returning to the football field next year.

View this post on Instagram

I just wanted to say to all of our fans, THANK YOU! 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. 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. 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.

A post shared by Tom Brady (@tombrady) on Jan 8, 2020 at 5:50am PST

I mean, it was already hard to believe Brady, as maniacal a competitor as the sport has seen, would want to go out on a flat note like losing in the first round of the playoffs. His last throw of the 2019 season was a pick-six. He wouldn't let that stand.

The biggest question is what arena he'll be finding himself in. An optimistic Patriots fan could read the mention of Gillette Stadium before "And that's right where you will find me," as confirmation that he'll be wearing the same uniform next season, but it's ambiguous enough that a pessimistic Patriots fan could read it the opposite way.

We can only wait and see, but now we know for certain: Brady will be on the field again next season.