The speculation about Tom Brady and the "Masked Singer" won't die down.
Imagine typing that sentence even one month ago.
But here we are, with Brady still mum about his mysterious 11-day absence from Buccaneers training camp. Brady didn't speak with reporters when he returned to the field Monday, and none of his teammates or coaches shed light on his hiatus.
All we got was a quote-tweet of somebody riding a motorcycle in BRADY ™ underwear.
While Brady was gone, an enterprising Internet sleuth posted a detailed Reddit thread about why Brady, who signed a $375 million contract with FOX earlier this year, was off filming the cheesy reality show. Their main point of evidence: "The Masked Singer's" filming schedule aligned exactly with Brady's absence.
The show stopped filming Aug. 20, and Brady returned to the Bucs Aug. 22.
On Thursday, TMZ posted leaked video from one of the upcoming episodes. In it, Ken Jeong, a judge on the show, guesses the identity of a contestant who's in a Hummingbird costume. At first, the comedian goes with Peyton Manning.
"This is screaming out like a football legend — someone who's won two Super Bowl rings. Someone like Peyton Manning, who has football in his DNA," said Jeong. "And if you look at his face, it kind of looks like Peyton Manning."
When that guess was deemed incorrect, Jeong says he thinks the Hummingbird is Brady.
"Or, I think this could be the greatest of all-time. He just got fined for not showing up to training camp, because he is here on the Masked Singer," he said. "This is seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady!"
Of course, the clip goes dark before we find out the answer. We'll have to tune in to find out!
Or not. We'll hear about it, anyway.
