Tom Brady retiring at end of season is not surprising to former Patriot Rob Ninkovich

Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers started their second playoff run together with a blowout win over the Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday, and now the competition gets stiffer with the Los Angeles Rams coming to town this weekend for an NFC Divisional Round matchup.

Even without Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown, Leonard Fournette and possibly even Ronald Jones right now, the Bucs look like one of the NFL’s biggest Super Bowl threats. But how long will Brady stick around? Former New England Patriots teammate Rob Ninkovich said Wednesday on ESPN’s Get Up that he would not be surprised if Brady retires after this season.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if Tom decided to just kind of walk away and do whatever he wants to do, because right now he’s in bonus time,” Ninkovich said. “How many 44-year-old quarterbacks that we seen throw for the amount of yards and touchdowns, and he’ll be 45 in August.

So at this point right now what else does he have to prove to anybody? What else does he have to check off the list? “I mean, he has got TB12 that he has grown to being in L.A. and New York and Boston. He has got his own brand coming out in the Brady brand with his clothing line, and everything that he has done.

He left the Patriots, went to another team, won a Super Bowl.

Everything as far as football goes, when you feel content with your career and everything that you’ve done, you can kind of say, ‘Alright, I’m going to walk off on my own two feet.’ Tom playing until he’s 50, if he really wants to — sure, OK.

But if he doesn’t, and if he decides, ‘Hey, I’ve had enough, I’ve done everything I need to do. What’s my legacy?’ What is his legacy? The best quarterback to ever play. So it wouldn’t shock me.” “He’s an outstanding player, he’s been doing it for a very long time, they’ve got a great football team,” Stafford said.

“Their defense is really stout, they played really well this weekend, so we’ll have to go and look at that. I’m not playing against him one-on-one, but I understand he’s a great player and he’s going to get his team in the end zone. So I’ve got to do my part as well.”