Getty Tom Brady could retire after the 2021 season.
Tom Brady has long said that he plans to play until the age of 45. However, he could theoretically call it quits after this season.
According to CBS Sports’ Tyler Sullivan, he boldly predicts that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback will retire after the 2021 season. Sullivan forecasts that the 44-year-old Brady will win the MVP award, Super Bowl MVP award and his eighth Super Bowl title to cap off his career.
“It hasn’t been done since the 2003, 2004 Patriots, but the Buccaneers will win back-to-back Super Bowls,” says Sullivan. “Even as they stand at 6-2 on the season, Tampa Bay feels like they have another level that they can reach and I expect them to flick that switch once the postseason begins.”
“Of course, with the Bucs currently sitting as the current Super Bowl favorite, them hoisting another Lombardi isn’t a super bold prediction, so let’s add some spice to it: TOM BRADY RETIRES!,” continues Sullivan. “After a season where he wins his eighth title, earns league MVP and solidifies himself atop of all the major NFL records for a quarterback, Brady fades off into the sunset on top with literally no other accomplishments left to achieve.”
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Brady Could Retire as Back-to-Back Winner
Following the Buccaneers’ loss to the Washington Football Team in Week 10, Tampa Bay currently holds a record of 6-3. However, they’re still on top of the NFC South and on track to hold home-field advantage for at least one round of the playoffs.
Obviously, Brady won a Super Bowl last year during his first season with the Bucs. Sullivan believes that the allure of literally accomplishing it all in his last season with Tampa Bay — along with the distinction of going out as a back-to-back Super Bowl winner — will lead to Brady’s earlier-than-expected retirement.
“The quarterback has long said that he plans to play until he is 45 and has even flirted with playing until he’s 50 (!),” says Sullivan. “With that in mind, it’d be quite a stretch to think that he walks away after this season. However, if he were to go back-to-back, it’d be one heck of a way to go out.”
Brady Could Retire at the Peak of His Career
As competitive and as good as Brady is at his current age, he can’t play forever. The Buccaneers quarterback has tackled the topic of retirement often during the latter years of his career, which leads one to believe that retiring could happen at any moment.
And despite a two-game losing streak that has dropped the Buccaneers a bit in the standings, Brady has still thrown for 27 touchdowns and 2,870 passing yards on the season — ranking second and first in the league in those categories.
During the offseason, Brady re-upped with Tampa Bay on a one-year contract extension that would keep him in Tampa through the 2022 season — his age-45 season.
However, if Brady wins the Super Bowl for an eighth time while also nabbing MVP honors as the oldest player in history to do it, how could he possibly top that?
It would be the perfect way to go out and he’d be the first quarterback since John Elway to cap his career with back-to-back Super Bowl wins.
In other words, he’d go out at the peak of his career — at the age of 44.
Just don’t rule it out of the equation, Buccaneers fans.