Why Shannon Sharpe Believes Next Season Will Be Tom Brady’s Last

Tom Brady has stated his desire to play until he’s 45, but Shannon Sharpe doesn’t think he’ll make it there.

Brady will enter his 20th NFL season at age 42, fresh off his sixth Super Bowl championship. Sharpe isn’t getting caught up in Brady’s latest Lombardi Trophy, though, and he believes we’ll see stark regression from the New England Patriots star in the 2019 campaign.

Sharpe was asked Thursday to put a number on his confidence that next season will be Brady’s last. After starting out at an 8 1/2 out of 10, the “Undisputed” co-host eventually boosted his ranking, as he’s not sure if the signal-caller’s body will be able to hold up for much longer.

“There were stretches during the season that Tom Brady didn’t play well,” Sharpe said, as seen on FOX Sports 1. “I think it’s gonna be an accumulation. I think wear and tear — I think this year he’s gonna take some shots and say, ‘You know what? This is it. This is enough. Six Super Bowls, 20 years.’ Not to say they’re not gonna be good. I believe they’ll be good again as long as this duo is there, coach (Bill) Belichick and Tom Brady, and they play in that crap division that is the AFC East.

“We get jaded in that the Patriots won the Super Bowl again and Tom Brady was historically great throughout the entirety of the season. That was not the case. And so I believe this year will be Tom Brady’s — as a matter of fact as we speak, I’m at a nine right now because I believe he will take a few hits that will leave Tom Brady spending more time on the injury report. Not saying he will miss any time. I believe he’ll have the worst year of his career in the last five or six years.”

Skip Bayless was on the other end of the spectrum, noting if there’s one athlete in sports you shouldn’t cast doubt on, it’s Brady. As for the Patriots themselves, they reportedly haven’t ruled out Brady riding off into the sunset following the 2019 season, especially if he racks up his seventh Super Bowl title.