NFL Insider reminds teams only Tom Brady will decide fate of his 2023 season with Gisele Bundchen out of the picture

Depending on how the season ends, Tom Brady may only have three games left in his NFL career. He will finish the year in less than two months at most. Whatever the true length of his season is, the quarterback will be faced with the same question after it concludes: Should he continue playing?

On the Rich Eisen Show, NFL insider Ian Rapoport reminded the NFL world that, unlike in previous years, the decision will be left solely to the quarterback, implying that former wife Gisele Bundchen will have no say in what he does. Here's how the insider put it:

"Does he want to play? His team has obviously struggled. He struggled. He has always promised that when he wasn't good, he would walk away. I will be extremely curious. For his own self reflection. What does he think?"

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He continued, outlining that his choice boils down to two modes of thinking with a new degree of freedom:

"Is it 'this offense, It's this team,' or does he think 'I'm 45 and it's time.' I have no idea. I kind of hope he plays. It's fun when he plays. But I'm fascinated by this decision with no one having a more important decision than Tom Brady himself."

Who will Buccaneers-led Tom Brady face in his final games of the year?

Tom Brady at Tampa Bay Buccaneers v San Francisco 49ers

At 6-8, the quarterback is still somehow leading the division race in the NFC South. However, the margin isn't comfortable enough that he can lose out and be guaranteed to make the playoffs. At this point in the season, the quarterback has been putting up roughly average production with 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

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Having said that, his final schedule will have a big impact on how easy it is to make the playoffs. He faces Colt McCoy and the Arizona Cardinals on Christmas. He will face Sam Darnold and the Carolina Panthers on January 1st. Then, in Week 18, he'll square off against Desmond Ridder and the Atlanta Falcons.

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Will Brady find a way to finish above .500 and avoid posting his lowest number of wins since entering the NFL? Only time can tell.

About the author

Ian brings with him more than 6.5 years of sports writing experience to the Sportskeeda NFL team. He played offensive line in middle school and high school, and also made it to the top 0% matchmaking ranking in MUT play in Madden.

He possesses the quality of identifying unique story angles from quotes in press conferences, social media and interviews. He assimilates facts for his stories with a lawyer-like precision and verifies each and every piece of information.

Ian admires Peyton Manning for his ability to beat teams with his mind despite not being the best athlete, and is also a fan of Tom Brady. The Denver Broncos are his favorite team, and their Super Bowl 50 win in Manning’s last game is etched in his memory forever. Bill Belichick is his all-time favorite coach.

He has also grown to admire the Los Angeles Rams mainly because he and Cooper Kupp went to the same college, Eastern Washington University, with both finishing their college careers at the same time.

In his career so far, Ian has had the privilege of exclusively interviewing Los Angeles Rams General Manager Les Snead, Kwity Paye of the Indianpolis Colts and Cleveland Browns wide receiver Jamari Thrash. When not writing, he likes to play video games and be outdoors.

Know More

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Fans! Check out the latest Tampa Bay Schedule and dive into the Tampa Bay Depth Chart for NFL Season 2024-25.

Edited by Krutik Jain