Bucky Brooks is the latest NFL figure to predict Tom Brady’s end

Former NFL player and current sportswriter/analyst Bucky Brooks became the latest in a long line of prognosticators to portend Tom Brady’s demise.

Here we go again.

You’d think that after a 41-year-old Tom Brady won his sixth Super Bowl ring, maybe – just maybe – most intelligent football analysts and sportswriters would give it a rest with all the gloom-and-doom predictions surrounding the inevitable(?) career finish line coming for the G.O.A.T.

Not so.

Bucky Brooks – who played for five different teams over a five-year NFL career in the 90s – became the latest TV talking head to offer up his weatherman prediction about when Brady would walk away from the game he loves so much. Making a guest appearance on FS1’s “Speak For Yourself” on Thursday, Brooks suggested that if the Patriots win the Super Bowl again this season, Brady would finally call it quits.

Here’s what he said exactly, per NESN:

"“This is a guy that has always been a rep hog. He didn’t give reps to Jimmy Garoppolo and those other guys while they were there. So now he’s finally relenting and he’s going to let Cody Kessler get some reps? Look, Tom Brady is getting older. It gets tougher waking up in the morning. It gets tougher going to the facility. You’ve got Bill Belichick barking at him. I believe if the Patriots win the Super Bowl, and Tom Brady’s play continues to dip at the end of the season, I think this is it.”"

Brooks is referring to Kessler’s recent addition to the roster, which some analysts believe is a direct result of Brady’s lingering calf injury that has limited him in practice over the past two weeks. It should be noted, however, that Brady’s name was removed from the injury report on Thursday.

Truthfully, Kessler signing with the Pats probably has much more to do with rookie backup Jarrett Stidham than it does with Brady’s age or injury. Stidham looked a bit shaky in his first taste of regular season action against the Jets in Week 3, and with Brady taking less reps in practice, Stidham’s workload has dramatically increased. Adding Kessler to the mix presumably will help lighten that load on the fourth-round draft pick just a bit.

For what it’s worth, Brady is enjoying one of his finest seasons to date, even though he’s 42 years old now and playing in his 20th year in the NFL. His completion percentage is so far the second-highest he’s ever had (67.9%), and his yards per pass attempt (8.6) is tied for his best mark ever.

Even if those numbers go down a bit, he’s very much on-pace to put up the kind of stats that most recently earned him his third league MVP award back in 2017. And even more importantly, he has helped guide his Patriots team to a 3-0 record on the season so far.