The Tom Brady Watch is over. Now what do we do?

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Tom Brady didn't give us the usual Super Bowl conversation, but he did deliver something just as good (at least for prolonged sports talk purposes): The drama surrounding where the quarterback would be playing in 2020.

It was the Tom Brady Watch, and it officially ended Friday.

Excited, humble and hungry ...if there is one thing I have learned about football, it’s that nobody cares what you did last year or the year before that...you earn the trust and respect of those around through your commitment every single day. I’m starting a new football journey and thankful for the @buccaneers for giving me an opportunity to do what I love to do. I look forward to meeting all my new teammates and coaches and proving to them that they can believe and trust in me...I have always believed that well done is better than well said, so I’m not gonna say much more - I’m just gonna get to work! #Year1 p.s. Jack Brady with the photocred --

A post shared by Tom Brady (@tombrady) on Mar 20, 2020 at 5:33am PDT

So, now what?

The case for those suggesting NFL free agency should be pushed off due to the unappetizing look of players making millions while so many are struggling like never before seems more misguided than ever. They were going to make the money at some point in the near future, and, more importantly, it gave us a MUCH NEEDED distraction from the real world. Brady and his fellow free agents saved us all from dealing with coronavirus anxiety from the minute we woke to beddy-by time.

This shouldn't be about counting the minutes until the end of the day, the end of the week and the end of the month. There has to be some of the normalcy that comes with America's most reliable built-in distraction: sports.

Appearing on the Greg Hill Show, Boston mayor Marty Walsh admitted he met face-to-face with representatives of the region's pro sports teams to reiterate this notion.

"I’ve spoken to the Red Sox, the ownership and the Celtics and the Bruins and quite honestly — it’s not my call — I would love to see some kind of sports even played in front of empty stadiums just for people to have a distraction," Walsh said. "I’m a huge sports guy. I love sports. I love hockey. I love basketball. I love watching baseball. I love football. When I go home at night that’s generally what I’m watching. I have the NHL package to watch every game on the West Coast. Not having sports is a huge gap for a lot of people. …I think that’s something I think people need. I think we have to try and think about how we move forward here."

When this becomes an option is anyone's guess. Certainly not in the immediate future.

But what this past week did was give us a very real example of what Walsh was talking about. When a door is opened to doing anything along these lines we should walk through, which is exactly what the NFL allowed us to do these past few days. (For instance, who knew a video of Dan Straily throwing off a mound in South Korea would be so refreshing.)

Baseball fans can have Dan Straily throwing a bullpen session in South Korea, as a treat, thanks to @sung_minkim. https://t.co/7xOfif6L4V

— Editor Joe Veyera (@JoeVeyera) March 20, 2020

Now that Brady is done we are all going to have to get creative. Fishing tournaments. Horse racing. They are still in play. 

The quarterback is gone and so is the gift that he gave us these last few months. 

Bring on the NFL Draft!