Will this be Tom Brady’s last year with the New England Patriots?

Tom Brady is 42-years-old and will be a free agent this upcoming offseason. Will this be the last season Brady plays for the New England Patriots?

For the first time in a decade, the New England Patriots will not have a bye in the AFC playoffs. New England hosts the No. 6 Tennessee Titans on Saturday night as the No. 3 seed in the AFC. While New England has been the team to beat in the NFL the last two decades, is the dynasty finally coming to an end? Will this be the last season Tom Brady plays for the Patriots?

On this week’s episode of Stacking the Box, FanSided‘s Matt Verderame and Mark Carman, along with former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz, tackle the tough question of if this is the end of the line for the greatest quarterback of all time in Foxborough (47:30).

Verderame believes it will be Brady’s last year in New England for two reasons: Money and weather. Brady’s contract is up after this year. He’ll easily command $30 million annually on the open market. Are the Patriots are willing to pay a player with a declining skill set or will they let him walk to a warm-weather team in need of a quarterback like the Los Angeles Chargers?

Schwartz too believes this is Brady’s last year in New England, echoing Verderame’s sentiment. He feels the idea of Brady taking less money in the twilight of his career as very unlikely. That’s because Brady taking less has rarely translated to head coach/general manager Bill Belichick using that freed up money elsewhere, like on a skill position player of an offensive lineman.

Taking a hometown discount at the quarterback position had been the norm for Brady before. However, with him only having three years left after this, as he has stated many times he wants to play until he’s 45-years-old, he has to take the money where he can get it and find a team willing to give him a two-to-three-year deal to be its starting quarterback for 2020 to potentially 2022.

If the Patriots give Brady a low-ball offer, something well below his market value again, he will have played his last game for New England. Not every quarterbacking legend gets to finish his illustrious career with the team he started it with. So come training camp next season, we may very well see Brady suiting up for somebody else besides the Patriots.

Here are a few other topics discussed on this week’s episode of Stacking the Box:

• John Dorsey out with the Browns (8:08)
• Verderame sounds off on Josh McDaniels (12:11)
• Titans-Patriots (29:11)
• Best of this weekend (58:07)

All this and more!

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