No one — including one of the most clued-in NFL insiders on the planet — seems to know what the future holds for Tom Brady.
Not only is the Patriots quarterback set to become a free agent after this season. He’s also 42 years old and in the midst of a down campaign relative to his usual high standards. It’s fair to wonder whether we’re witnessing Brady’s final days in a New England uniform.
As ESPN’s Adam Schefter explained on Thursday’s episode of “Get Up,” Brady has three options: 1) Retire. 2) Re-sign with the Patriots. Or 3) Sign with another team.
Two of those three options obviously involve leaving New England.
“I don’t think that he knows what he’s going to do. I don’t know that (the Patriots) know what he’s going to do,” Schefter said. “But two of the three (say he’s leaving New England). The percentages are that he doesn’t come back. The percentages are that he moves on one way or another because there’s an equal chance that any of those happen at this point in time.
“And he is 42, and he’s not practicing as much, and his body is wearing down a little bit, which is natural. … Could you imagine what it’s like to be Tom Brady when you’ve been hit on Sunday and pummeled like that? It’s a tough challenge.”
While we can attempt to crawl inside Brady’s mind as the Patriots aim for a seventh Lombardi Trophy, it’s possible not even he knows what he’s going to do beyond Super Bowl LIV. But leaving New England obviously isn’t out of the question, as weird as that sounds.
Brady is in the midst of his 20th season with the Patriots after being selected by New England in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft. Whatever happens over the next few weeks and into the playoffs could go a long way toward determining whether he’s back in Foxboro for a 21st.
