Belichick confirms the obvious: Brady will return as starter after suspension

Let's go ahead and nix this idea before it even has the chance to take shape.

No, Jimmy Garoppolo won't have a chance to unseat a future Hall of Famer in his four-game opportunity to start the season.

Speaking at his first press conference of training camp Wednesday, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick confirmed that Tom Brady will return as the starter following his suspension.

"We had, finally, some definition with Tom's situation, so our priority now is to get Jimmy ready for the start of the season, for the Arizona game (Sept. 11)," Belichick said, according to Mike Reiss of ESPN. "That will be, obviously, a comprehensive process. Tom will return as the starting quarterback when he comes back, but in the meantime, we have to prioritize the first part of our schedule and that will be to get Jimmy ready to go."

No matter how well the team fared with Garoppolo at the helm over the first month of the season, there was never a chance that the Patriots would consider keeping Brady off the field.

The 16-year veteran remains one of the NFL's top overall players, and he's shown no signs of regression entering his age-38 season. A four-game stretch without him will simply be about weathering the storm and getting Garoppolo some reps that can be beneficial to his development down the road.

Playing at a .500 level and stealing two wins may be all the Patriots need to best position themselves for their star quarterback's return. After an exhaustive fallout from the Deflategate saga, Brady making a triumphant return and taking his dominance to yet another level would come as a surprise to no one.