Amid all the talk about when Tom Brady might retire, we're all sort of ignoring the fact that he doesn't have to actually walk away from football until he wants to. He might hint about getting tired of the game, but those are also the feelings of a legend who came up just short in his pursuit of a title. Brady admitted to Oprah Winfrey recently that, among other things, it took him two or three weeks to recover from the loss to the Eagles in Super Bowl LII. 

So it's possible whatever we hear from Brady at the current moment, or within the last few months and in the months moving forward, may be him sort of mentally recovering from a devastating loss. 

Which leads me to a discussion of Brady deciding to make comments in Spanish on Instagram posts. (Welcome to 2018, everyone.) The Patriots quarterback may have revealed when he plans to retire. When ESPN posted something on Instagram about Brady being motivated to play but knowing he can't play forever, the Patriots quarterback slid up in the comment section and wrote "cuarenta y cinco." For those that don't speak Spanish, it means 45.

Or did Brady simply REITERATE when he wants to retire? Brady has long maintained that he planned to play until the age of 45, although he recently amended that to include some sort of discussion with Gisele about only playing for two more years. He has also hinted, in his "Tom vs. Time" documentary, that he could retire as early as following 2018. 

It's not really smart to suggest that anyone other than Brady himself knows when he's going to walk away, and it's not really smart to suggest Brady even knows right now what he wants to do following this year. The "year to year" idea floated by lots of older quarterbacks can sound a little absurd at times, but ultimately it makes sense in this context. Brady doesn't know how 2018 will play out and he doesn't know how he'll feel after. 

We could very well be reading Brady Instagram comments for another five offseasons. Welcome to June.