Although Tom Brady has insisted that he wants to play football until he's 45, it sounds like there's at least a chance that the Patriots quarterback could end up retiring before that.
Brady doesn't talk about retirement often, but he did open up with filmmaker Gotham Chopra for the final episode of Brady's documentary, "Tom vs. Time." With Gisele sitting by his side, Brady was asked how much longer he wanted to play.
"Two more Super Bowls. Two more," Brady said. "That could be shorter than five or six [more years]."
The interview with Brady took place in August and was released on Sunday as the final part of the documentary. If Brady sticks to his plan of two more Super Bowls, that means he could end up retiring as soon as next season. Brady will be getting one of those Super Bowls out of the way on Sunday when the Patriots play the Eagles in Super Bowl LII.
Based on Brady's statement, he could end up retiring if the Patriots reach the Super Bowl again following the 2018 season, and as he said, if he does reach that second Super Bowl, his career won't go "five or six" more years.
One person who would definitely like to see him retire is his wife, Gisele. Gisele admitted that she tried to talk her husband into retiring after the Patriots pulled off their wild comeback against the Falcons in Super Bowl LI.
"He did tell me that he was going to play for 10 years, I just want to say that. When I met him in 2006, he said, 'Listen, I'm just going to play for 10 more years and I'm going to win one Super Bowl, and I'm going to be happy,'" Gisele said in the documentary. "And I told him last year, I said, 'Well, I think this is great, you know, like, what a great win. Now you won two Super Bowls, it's the end of the 10th year... I was ready, and then he's like 'No [I'm not retiring].'"
During the interview in the documentary, Gisele seemed to soften her retirement stance, telling Brady that he could play as long as he wants.
"I mean, he can have as many Super Bowls as he likes," Gisele said.
Of course, if the Patriots don't make it to another Super Bowl after Sunday's game against the Eagles, then Brady's statement means nothing and he'll likely try to play until he's 45.
"When the day comes when I feel like I can't do it anymore, whether even physically, which I doubt, or more mentally that I won't be able to, you know, give what I need to to the other parts of my life, I'll say it's enough," Brady said in the documentary, via USA Today. "But it's not going to be for a while, though."
One thing is for sure: it doesn't sound like Brady has any plans to hang up his cleats for good following Sunday's game against the Eagles. Based on Brady's timeline, we can expect him to play anywhere from one-to-five more seasons following Super Bowl LII.
