There's no doubt in Stephen A. Smith's mind that Tom Brady should retire after this season, the quarterback's third with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers following a 20-year run with the New England Patriots.
"It's over," Smith declared Thursday on ESPN's "First Take," hours before the Buccaneers hosted the Baltimore Ravens in a Week 8 matchup at Raymond James Stadium.
This comes on the heels of former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner suggesting Brady and Green Bay Packers legend Aaron Rodgers might want to consider walking away this offseason. Both the Bucs and Packers didn't look right through seven weeks of the 2022 campaign, and Brady has had an especially difficult year given his brief retirement, his unretirement and the divorce rumors surrounding him and his wife, Gisele Bündchen.
"It's not to say that he can't resurrect the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, get them to the playoffs, contend for a Super Bowl, whatever," Smith said. "But it's over. It's over for him. And we've never said that before. Even when he was struggling in New England, because we knew he was bereft of the requisite weapons necessary in order to win and that was on Bill Belichick, who's making these personnel decisions. But we're looking at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers right now, and we look at how rattled Tom Brady appears. He's got a lot on his mind. And the fact of the matter is that he's done enough. At some point in time, it's about the seven titles -- with the $375 million waiting for you in the broadcast booth. That needs to be enough. It isn't like you're wondering what the hell you're going to be doing.
" ... There's no getting around the fact that you look at how he's playing, this is it," Smith added. "You don't wait until you drop to the bottom. You see the dissipation. You see the demise. And you say, 'OK, maybe it's time to walk away.' That's what you do."
The Buccaneers entered Week 8 with a 3-4 record, good enough to be tied for first place in the NFC South with the Atlanta Falcons but obviously a far cry from where Tampa Bay expected to be two seasons removed from a Super Bowl title. Injuries are partially to blame, of course, as the Bucs simply haven't been healthy. But Brady, now 45 years old, just hasn't quite elevated his teammates like he's done for most of his NFL career.
"In the case of Tom Brady, it's a wrap," Smith said. "There's no reason for Tom Brady to play after this season."
Maybe Brady will use this as fuel for one more Super Bowl run? After all, the seven-time champion only got better after Smith's former "First Take" co-host, Max Kellerman, declared in 2016 that Brady's performance would drop off "a cliff" in short order.
