Report: Tom Brady teammates 'bracing' for his retirement

Tom Brady has defied Father Time like no other quarterback before him. However, his Buccaneers teammates are wondering if this season’s playoff run could be the Seven-time Super Bowl Champions’ swan song.

According to CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora, Brady’s teammates are bracing for his retirement.

“Brady has talked in the past about wanting to play up to age 50, though not quite as much recently,” wrote La Canfora. “At age 44 and chasing a second straight Lombardi Trophy, and with the Bucs facing a difficult task of keeping this team together in 2022, several of his teammates are prepared for this playoff run to be Brady’s last, sources said. Including some very close to the quarterback.”

Moreover, one of La Canfora’s sources believes Brady doesn’t know what he’s going to do himself.

“He hasn’t signaled one way or the other what he’s going to do,” said one source close to Brady, according to La Canfora. “And maybe he doesn’t know himself. But it wouldn’t be surprising if this was the end.”

However, another source believes the sense in the locker room is that this is Brady’s final run at a Super Bowl.

“One Bucs source said: “Nothing’s been said, but there is a sense among some guys in the locker room that this is it, one way or the other,'” wrote La Canfora. “‘It’s just little things here or there they are picking up on. Maybe it turns out to be nothing.'”

One way or another, the clock is ticking on Brady’s final chance to win a Lombardi Trophy. Once that runs out, one has to wonder if Tom Brady would rather call it quits than flounder in mediocrity to end his career.

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If Tom Brady is calling it quits at the end of the season, it would mark the end of arguably the greatest career in professional sports history. Alone, Brady has more Super Bowl rings than any NFL franchise — including the one he won six titles for.

With the scuttlebutt coming out regarding the Buccaneers quarterback’s clock, his career could feasibly end this weekend. Ironically, he faces the Los Angeles Rams — the team he began his star-turn against, winning his first Super Bowl against the franchise.

When Tom Brady decides to hang up the cleats, he’ll likely go down as the unquestioned greatest quarterback to ever play the game. Time will tell if his retirement rumor has any legs to it, or if Brady will return for another season on the gridiron.