Tom Brady affirms he 'absolutely' will play in 2019, but who will be with him on the Patriots?

The New England Patriots captured their 10th straight division title on Sunday, despite losing five games in a season for the first time since 2009, and despite some saying the offense is struggling and the defense is terrible (psst … the Patriots are top 10 in points for and points against, one of only five teams that can make that claim with one game left in the regular season).

Some have even questioned Tom Brady’s play, even as he insists he’s fine physically but appears to have some kind of left knee (his plant leg) injury.

But if anyone thought Brady would be backing down from his repeated declarations that he plans to play until he’s 45, it’s not happening yet.

‘I absolutely believe I will’

During his weekly chat with Westwood One’s Jim Gray, which airs at halftime of the broadcast of “Monday Night Football,” Brady was asked about playing in 2019; he’ll celebrate his 42nd birthday on Aug. 3 next year.

“I absolutely believe I will,” Brady said, via Mike Reiss of ESPN. “I know I’ve talked about it for a long time: I have goals to not only play next year, but beyond that. I’m going to try to do it as best I possibly can. I’m going to give it everything I have, like I always have.

“It will certainly be a challenge. I don’t take any of these things for granted, but I hope I can keep playing, and I hope I can keep playing at a championship level.”

Brady’s current contract expires after the 2019 season, when his base salary is $14 million.

Still loves playing

Brady has long said he can’t imagine doing anything else; he loves playing football. That love hasn’t waned, even through 19 NFL seasons, and at a time when nearly all of his peers have long since retired — one of his classmates in the 2000 draft, Brian Urlacher, has already been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“I’ve been able to be in a career for 19 years that I love. I wake up every day excited to go to work,” Brady said. “I wake up every day fulfilled with what I’m doing. I don’t think there’s any greater gift in my life than to have that.

“Along with that has come a lot of other very cool opportunities, but in my heart and soul, I love playing the sport of football and it’s brought me so much joy in my life. It tests you in so many ways. I’ve been dealing with it for a long time. There’s anxiousness and nerves, and joy and happiness. There’s disappointment and frustration. The emotions run the gamut. But if you can stay and build your mental toughness, it’s just been incredibly rewarding. I’m a very, very lucky man.”

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Brady, who has completed 65.4 percent of his pass attempts with 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 2018, was named to the Pro Bowl for a record-tying 14th time earlier this month. He joins Merlin Olsen, Bruce Matthews, Tony Gonzalez and Peyton Manning as the only players in that club.

Brady said he’s “feeling great for this time of year,” after playing in 15 games.

What will the offense look like?

Brady says he’ll be back, and let’s assume it will be with New England. What will the offense look like?

As of right now, the Patriots’ top three pass-catchers are under contract for 2019: running back James White, receiver Julian Edelman and tight end Rob Gronkowski.

Edelman and Gronkowski will also be in the final year of their respective contracts; the Patriots tried to trade Gronkowski to Detroit earlier this year, but he made it clear he’d retire if that happened because he’ll only play with Brady as his quarterback.

There are of course questions about Josh Gordon, whose first job is getting himself healthy and then back on the field, and whether the Patriots might want to bring back Cordarrelle Patterson, who has been the team’s top kickoff returner and has gotten use as a receiver and ballcarrier.

Along the offensive line, starting left tackle Trent Brown’s contract is currently set to expire in March; right tackle Marcus Cannon is slated to be back next year, as are guard Joe Thuney and Shaq Mason and center David Andrews.

One other question: will Josh McDaniels be back? The Patriots’ offensive coordinator is once again flirting with the idea of leaving New England, though last year he very publicly backed out of the Indianapolis Colts’ job after the team announced him as its next head coach.

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