Tony Romo’s “guess”: Tom Brady is coming back

[Pat Patriot]

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When it comes to Tom Brady‘s instantly murky football future, everyone will have a guess. Some guesses will be more reliable than others.

Tony Romo of CBS, who worked multiple games involving the Patriots this season and who met with Brady in the days preceding the season-ending loss to Tennessee has a guess that should not be ignored.

“I’m gonna tell everyone right now that I believe Tom Brady is coming back to play,” Romo said near the end of last night’s game. “This is a guess. I think he’s coming back to play. . . . What I saw out of him, not only today but when I watched him this year, he is not done. He needs help around him. Now where he’s gonna play? Is it here is it — that’s, whatever, I think he’s coming back. And I think he’s going to be very motivated to possibly show people that at that next stage, he’s not done.”

Later, Jim Nantz of CBS pointed out that Brady may indeed stay with the Patriots.

“He said, ‘Who knows? Maybe a sign a five-year extension?'” Nantz explained.

“He’s coming back,” Romo said again, more forcefully and without calling it a guess.

Again, whether he’s coming back to New England or going somewhere else remains to be seen. Any team that needs a quarterback should want him. Even if there are signs of slippage (his numbers this year and specifically last night were far from his usual standard), Brady’s presence in the locker room and his ability to sell tickets and move merchandise make him worthy of a blank check.

The real question is whether he’s looking to make money or to win another championship or two. Plenty of teams that need quarterbacks have a long way to go to get to the top of the mountain. Only a small handful of teams have the other pieces to contend at a high level — and most of them have quarterbacks.