Ex-NFL Player Views Tom Brady’s Instagram As ‘Alert To 31 Other Teams’

Marcellus Wiley is reading between the lines.

Well, at least he’s trying to.

Tom Brady shared his end-of-season Instagram on Wednesday, and while the post was fairly par for the course for the veteran quarterback, it unsurprisingly took the football world by storm. Brady thanked Patriots fans, offered his take on the 2019 season and squashed any ideas of retirement by insisting he still has “more to prove.”

For Wiley, Brady’s message to the Foxboro Faithful coupled with his look toward the future is a sign the future Hall of Famer plans to continue his NFL career outside of New England.

“This was an alert to 31 other teams out there, for you to not pause for the cause of Tom Brady’s services,” Wiley said Wednesday on FS1’s “Speak For Yourself.” “One, the indication came from the fact that he thanked the fan base. You don’t thank the fan base unless you’re thinking about departure, but departure to continue. Not thanking the fan base and then finishing that by saying, ‘I still have more to prove.’ ‘More to prove’ means, ‘I’m going to play,’ but thanking the fan base means probably not here. So this is not directed at Bill Belichick because Bill Belichick wouldn’t have put Tom Brady in this position if he were thinking about bringing him back. Tom Brady, the GOAT? The great? You don’t dangle him out there in terms of free agency and making him a lame duck this year as the quarterback of your team. So there’s no rhyme or reason to bring him back. If you bring him back even at a low-ball number, do you know how bad that is? Because everyone in that locker room is going to say, ‘Tom Brady didn’t take a haircut because it was his choice, they gave him what he’s worth and he’s not worth that much. So why would we start our season with a guy you don’t even think highly of, organization?’ So that’s a damning situation in the locker room. All this points to Tom Brady continuing his services elsewhere, but not as a Patriot.”

Yeah, Wiley might be taking a few leaps there.

Brady himself noted it would be “great” if he worked out a new deal with the Patriots, and Robert Kraft’s “hope and prayer” is for the 42-year-old to be back with the team in 2020. A ringing endorsement from a team owner typically is the end-all, be-all, but not in New England, where the decision might come down to Belichick.

Stay tuned, folks. The Brady free agency saga is just getting started.