NFL Rumors: ESPN Insider Said He Would Be 'Stunned' if Tom Brady Returns to Patriots

One ESPN Insider doubled-down on his belief that Tom Brady will be the leaving the Patriots this offseason.

Jeff Darlington just doubled-down on his Tom Brady-leaving-New-England take. 

Thursday morning on ESPN's show "Get Up!" ESPN Insider Jeff Darlington was asked about Brady's situation with the Patriots. Darlington not only reiterated what he said last week while on "Golic & Wingo" but went as far as to say he would be "stunned" if Brady returned to New England. 

"No matter how many times we say that Tom Brady is likely to not play for the Patriots next year, I either get blasted or told that I am wrong," Darlington said. "That makes sense, because we cannot wrap our heads around it. There are people very close to Tom Brady who are being told by Tom Brady 'it's not gonna happen, I'm going somewhere else' like, that's the way we are operating here within those circles. And yet even those people don't necessarily believe that Tom, at the end of the day, won't go into Bill Belichick's office and Belichick won't sit there and say to him 'Tom we need you back, we have to have you back' and that Tom Brady will return to the Patriots. 

"We need to wrap our minds our the fact that it Is far more likely than not that Tom Brady will not be back with the Patriots. I am now at the point where I would be stunned if Tom Brady returns to the Patriots."

“I’m now at the point where I would be stunned if Tom Brady went back to New England.”

—@jeffdarlington on @GetUpESPN pic.twitter.com/CnyoANl77v

— ESPN (@espn) February 27, 2020

This is a step up from Darlington's informed opinion last week when he said "it's more likely than not" that Brady leaves New England. Now he is making it seem like an utter shock if the 42-year-old QB decides to stay with the Patriots this offseason. 

Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald reported not too long after Darlington's report that the team has not yet scheduled a meeting with Brady and added that a source said "it's not looking good." 

The Patriots still have not reached out to Tom Brady. According to a source, “it’s not looking good”

— Karen Guregian (@kguregian) February 27, 2020

Darlington is one of just a handful of media members that are close to Brady's camp, and Guregian is a trustworthy source of information as well. So it may be time for all of us to take the idea more seriously and prepare for the departure of Tom Brady from New England.