In the weeks that followed the New England Patriots coming up short in Super Bowl 52 against the Philadelphia Eagles, it had seen an abnormal level of silence from star quarterback Tom Brady. This had pushed forward questions about his NFL future as he had not declared publicly that he would make his return despite having two years left in his current deal.

Shortly after that chatter arose, there was confirmation that he would be back for next season and much further than that. During his first media availability of the NFL offseason, Brady once again reiterated that he did not at any point consider stepping away from the game, according to Doug Kyed of NESN.com.

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The 40-year-old has remained firm throughout these last few years that he plans on playing well into his 40s if his body can withstand the physical grind that comes with playing in the NFL. His play has certainly not fallen off at any point as he's still playing some of the best football of his career coming off the third league MVP award of his illustrious career while leading the franchise to their third Super Bowl appearance in the last four years.

The fact that there has been no decline in his play on the field should be the biggest factor as this has been typically the stage of the career of many of the game's previous greats see a notable decline in their performance. He yet to truly experience any of that up to this point heading into his 19th season.

With Brady back in the fold for the offseason workouts, it should quickly shift the attention back over to the Patriots making another strong push toward being a legitimate Super Bowl contender while getting back on that stage to compete for that ultimate goal.