Tom Brady won't retire from NFL due to his age, it's going to be a 'family decision'

Tom Brady is seemingly getting better with age, which has made NFL fans ponder at what age the quarterback will call it quits. But per NFL insider Seth Wickersham, the veteran won't retire because of his age.

Wickersham knows Brady innately as the veteran reporter who covered the quarterback and the Patriots for 20 years. Wickersham feels Brady will call it a day when he feels it takes a toll on his family life.

Brady is still excelling in the NFL. Twenty years removed from his first game as an NFL quarterback, the future Hall of Famer is playing at an extraordinary level. Wickersham references the sacrifices and selfishness that Brady has used to fuel himself to success, to the detriment of his family life:

“It’s not going to be because he feels satisfied, It’s going to be because the toll on his family is so much that he feels like the selfishness – and that’s the word for it; you have to be selfish to be that competitive and that motivated -- that it eventually becomes too much. And that’s the reason why he walks away.”

Does Brady have anything left to prove?

After winning a seventh Super Bowl title, Brady instantly moved on to the next goal. His insatiable desire to win had him thinking about an eighth title. Wickersham says that Brady's wife asked him the same question:

“Last year the Bucs win the Super Bowl, Brady’s family comes out on the field and one of the very first things (his wife) Gisele Bundchen asks him is, ‘What more do you have to prove?’ And Tom Brady’s response is to dodge the question and pretend that he didn’t hear it. Because he knows that winning the Super Bowl wasn’t the thing. It’s not that he doesn’t live for that moment. But he was already thinking ahead to: What are these invisible ways to everybody else – but that are obvious to me -- that I can improve on.

Brady's drive is relentless. Wickersham explains that Brady constantly has to prove things to himself. It is not enough to win today. Brady wants to win tomorrow and the day after. His ambition is unimaginable to mere mortals:

“It’s really interesting when you look at where this comes from, why it’s so insatiable and what it’s like to live in that environment all the time. Again, I just go back to that game where she says, ‘What more do you have to prove?’ And it turns out: Everything. That’s the answer.”

Brady is enjoying a record-breaking 2021 campaign. The legend wants all the accolades to push further, and the only thing that might stop him is his family.