The speculation took a new twist Saturday. Brady and Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman have joked about their close friendship, with both admitting that the quarterback’s favorite pass-catcher often plays the role of pesky little brother. That was on display for a national TV audience as the two, along with comedian Jimmy Fallon, took in the North Carolina-Syracuse game.

As the camera found the three, Edelman smiled as he mouthed the words, “He’s coming back,” presumably meaning to the Patriots and not from the restroom or a trip to the concession stand. Sitting next to Edelman, Brady caught his drift, saying something that was open to interpretation as he shook his head in annoyance and smiled.

Did he say, “he’s not” or perhaps, “let’s not,” as in do this here and now? You decide. The expression, as NBC Sports Boston’s Tom E. Curran tweeted, “seems to say, ‘I will strangle you. I will. I don’t want to. But I will.'”

Later, Edelman left no question about his thoughts, sharing an image of a red, white and blue T-shirt emblazoned with the words “STAY! TOM 2020 A quarterback you can trust” on Instagram. Lest his message be unclear on the shirt he’s hawking, he added a logo of a red-white-and-blue/starred-and-striped goat on the sleeve.

“New England,” he wrote, “is a Tomocracy.”

You could almost hear Brady saying, “Oh, Jules.”

Perhaps Edelman shouldn’t feel too bad. Brady’s other bestie, his wife Gisele Bündchen, is in the dark about what the future holds.

“I would love to know where I’m going to be living this year but I don’t know that yet,” the supermodel replied Friday in an Instagram Q&A. “But hopefully somewhere nice. And wherever my husband is happy playing, so we will see.”