Brady Made a Pretty Intriguing Comment Under a Post About Gronk and Him

We’ve got Willie McGinest’s theory Gronk is going to retire, take the summer off, then unretire in the middle of the season. (Like Jason Witten, only a bigger story by a factor of a million.) We’ve got Mr. Kraft and Belichick issuing prepared statements Sunday night and then taking a hard pass at any opportunities to pay tributes to Gronk at the Owner’s Meetings. (Though to be totally honest, Mr. Kraft avoided every camera and microphone in Phoenix like they were unexploded IEDs. Understandably.)

And now we’ve got this? “I hope 78 isn’t the final number [crying laughing emoji]”? Guys just don’t throw comments like that out under posts about their buddy’s retirement if they think they’re really doing to stay retired, right? I mean, I saw guys head off to collect their pensions when I worked for the state and I don’t ever remember saying “I hope you come back to fall asleep in your chair, take a 90 minute lunch and bang in sick on the Friday before a long weekend [crying laughing emoji].” You only even make that suggestion if you think it’s actually going to happen, right? Otherwise you just wish a guy the best in all his endeavors and get back to work.

So does this mean I’m convinced that McGinest is right and the GOAT is hinting about something and we haven’t seen the last Tom Brady-to-Rob Gronkowski touchdown? Not exactly. I’m not there yet. But I’m getting there. Just to borrow a phrase, I’m starting to think it’s more probable than not.