New England Patriots

Tom Brady says he has no plans to retire after Super Bowl 51

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 3:48 p.m. ET

Fansided, Brad Berreman/Fansided

Coming off a great season and another Super Bowl win, Tom Brady is not planning to retire anytime soon.

After a record-setting performance in Super Bowl 51, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady won his fifth Super Bowl and his fourth Super Bowl MVP. There’s nothing left for him to prove in terms of his legacy as the greatest quarterback in NFL history, or at least the most decorated for any skeptics, so retirement talk may start to surface for Brady now.

A report from Super Bowl Sunday morning suggested the Patriots expect Brady to play 3-5 more seasons. Even at 40 years old prior to next season the high end of that timeline somehow seems realistic, with Brady’s noted lifestyle and offseason regimen allowing him to defy a typical decline curve.

But Father Time catches up to everyone eventually, and a pro athlete’s decline can come quickly as well as without warning. Brady talked to Sirius XM NFL Radio on Monday, and the retirement topic came up.

.@Patriots Tom Brady on @SIRIUSXM: If it was up to my wife she’d have me retire today, she told me that last night…I said too bad babe.

— SiriusXM NFL Radio (@SiriusXMNFL) February 6, 2017

The wife Brady talked about is of course super model Gisele Bundchen, and it’s not too surprising she would like him to retire. But outside of his great Super Bowl performance, Brady played at an MVP level (28 touchdowns and two interceptions) over 12 regular season games this past season after serving his four-game “Deflategate” suspension.

Brady and Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick may eventually retire together, but neither guy seems close to calling it quits. Belichick regularly discards players he feels can’t contribute at the same level they once did, and is often proven right, so it will be interesting to see how that applies to Brady if a noted decline in his level of play comes.