The Tom Brady Watch Is Officially Getting Out Of Hand

By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) -- Tom Brady is very important to the New England region. Tom Brady is the most important player in Patriots history. Tom Brady is an impending free agent.

For these reasons (and many more), fans and media are keeping a close watch on the quarterback this offseason. Moves that would otherwise be ignored in any other offseason -- like, for instance, living in the family's New York apartment -- are suddenly looked at through a new lens. What's it mean? Where's he going?

Is. Tom. Leaving?!?!

Again, part of it is understandable. It's natural. It's borderline necessary.

But with more than six weeks to go until free agency actually begins, it seems clear that as a species, we've already gone too far on Tom Brady Watch: 2020.

That's never been more obvious than in the past few days, when the topic of Brady perhaps/maybe/kinda/sorta/POSSIBLY purchasing real estate in the Las Vegas area was thrust into the public discussion. You see, the Raiders are moving to Las Vegas, and the Raiders kind of sucked eggs last year (7-9 record, 24th-ranked scoring offense, losers of five of their last six games), and Derek Carr does not appear to be a superstar or anything close to it, and Jon Gruden must get all hot and bothered when thinking about the chance to sit in a QB room with Brady.

So when Brady chatted with Mark Davis as the big fight two weekends ago?

Holy moly, sweet cannoli!

That one photo launched a thousand ships, with ships in this instance meaning guys trying to find out if Brady ... was buying property near Las Vegas.

Sports handicapper Brandon Lang dropped a BOMB on Felger & Mazz this week, too. Check it out:

"Word on the street is he bought a home in Vegas. Word is he bought property in Vegas," Lang said. "That's what my friends in real estate [said]. I live in Vegas. He was there for the fight."

Wow! Bombshell. Right?

Well.

Lang immediately followed that up with this:

"Word is he bought property ... or he inquired about buying property."

Oh.

Well.

That's not the same.

"That's what I heard. It's not validated or documented," Lang concluded. "But he made some inquiries about some property."

That one really went downhill quickly.

The Sports Hub's Hardy made some calls to some people in the know out in Las Vegas, and they said that the word on the street is that Brady did buy some property ... in a Discovery Land community. That news also brought about the information that Brady already owns Discovery Land property, out on the Gozzer Ranch in Idaho. It's already been reported that Brady owns property in Silo Ridge -- another Discovery Land development -- in New York.

So, if Brady was inquiring about a Discovery property near Las Vegas, it wouldn't necessarily mean that he's going to play for the Raiders. Unless he's also going to play for Idaho's NFL team. Or eastern upstate New York's NFL team.

Sounds kind of just like a rich person who buys property with his rich wife, ya know?

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport also kind of made all of that conversation meaningless when he said on Zolak & Bertrand, "Tom Brady buying houses doesn't dictate where he's gonna play next year, because wherever he plays next year, he's not gonna buy. He's gonna rent"

Fair enough!

The world seemed to move on quickly from the Vegas property story anyway, because rumors flooded the internet that Brady was visiting a school in Nashville on Thursday.

Legitimate? Who knows! Possibly! But on the internet, that doesn't really matter much.

The rumor changed, too. Turns out it was just Gisele, and not Tom?

Close enough!

The Nashville internet rumors are just the latest follow-up to a week of Bradyghetti being flung at the wall. To wit:

Oh, and then this:

Gah! I thought he bought one?!

Then you've got literally everybody in the world weighing in on where Brady should go. Joe Montana said he should stay in New England. So did David Ortiz. Rob Gronkowski thinks Brady should explore all options. Wes Welker couldn't give two poops what Brady does.

We've got it all documented!

And all of that came after the "Brady moved to Greenwich ... and also his suite was cleaned at Gillette (????)" and then the "Brady doesn't own a home in Greenwich" news flooded the market, which of course came just before the "Brady and Gisele move to Manhattan" news.

Three more rumors likely cropped up since this story started.

It's enough.

To make you.

Dizzy.

Ahhh!

Again, it's understandable why this is happening. This is Tom Brady. He's the legitimate GOAT, and not just in the way that people on Twitter refer to anybody with one highlight as the GOAT. Brady is the real GOAT, and even though he'll be 43 years old in August, his NFL future remains one of the biggest stories in sports. After the Super Bowl, it's likely going to intensify, as regular-season NHL and NBA and MLB spring training can't really contend with the professional employment of the greatest quarterback of all time.

But man oh man. It's not even February yet. Free agency remains 48 days away. And this story has already gotten out of control.

The next seven weeks ought to be a whole bucket of fun.

UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!

Tom has clearly noticed that the entire universe is following every move he makes, so it appears as though he's decided to mess with everyone with a singular tweet:

That's it. That's the tweet.

It generated thousands of retweets, likes and comments in a matter of minutes, as the internet debates what it means. Is he walking into Gillette Stadium? Is he -- gasp -- LEAVING Gillette Stadium? WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

It probably just means Brady knows he can ratchet BRADYWATCH up to an 11. And so he did.

Thanks a lot, Thomas.

You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.

In:
• NFL
• Tom Brady
• New England Patriots
• Nashville
• Las Vegas