It was only a week ago that the Patriots’ season ended, so nothing has changed for Tom Brady.
The Patriots quarterback has taken time off since his team’s loss to the Titans in the wild-card round. Brady said Saturday he has not started thinking about his future.
Brady is scheduled to become a free agent in March.
“The contract things I think a week after the season, I would say these things haven’t even started to pick up,” Brady told him Gray on Westwood One Radio on Saturday, via Ryan Hannable of WEEI. “That is not my concern at this point. It has been about decompressing and lessen my mind a little bit and resting my body and spending time with the people who have supported me over the last six months.
“Like I said, I’ve loved playing football and I have loved playing for this organization, so I really don’t know what it is going to look like moving forward and I am just taking things day-by-day. We’re a week removed from the end of our season. There’s a lot of time to figure these things out. I don’t think any player or team is ready to make any commitments at this point and I am sure as the offseason progresses those things will take care of themselves.”
Brady, 42, reiterated what he said postgame last week: He plans to play somewhere in 2020. Brady long has said he wants to play until he’s 45.
But he does not expect a quick decision on his future.
“I know there’s speculation. There always is,” Brady said. “That is part of being in professional sports and being a professional athlete. When people aren’t talking about this season, they want to talk about next season and the reality is next season is quite a ways away. I have some other things that are happening at this time, like I said spending some time with my family and my loved ones and giving them the time they need. Then as people begin to plan for next season, like I said, these things will take care of themselves.”
Brady has six Super Bowl rings, but he did not have his best season. He completed 60.8 percent of his passes in the regular season for 4,057 yards with 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
His final pass of the loss to the Titans last week was intercepted by former teammate Logan Ryan and returned 9 yards for a touchdown with nine seconds remaining.
Still, Brady is doing things at his age that previously have never been done.
“It’s always been proving it to myself and being motivated internally to push myself to the limits,” Brady said. “Sometimes the limits push back. I have experienced that. But I also think I am been inspired by so many people who have pushed the limits. I’ve watched a lot of movies. I love watching documentaries of incredible human feats and they are inspiring when people climb these mountains and do things that people never thought were possible.
“I am at a certain point in my career where people think that what I am doing is to a degree impossible. For me, it is about continuing to prove to myself that I can lay it all on the line and we can still still try and achieve the ultimate goal, which is winning Super Bowls.”