With his contract set to expire and a “no tag” clause, Brady cannot be franchise-tagged and will become an unrestricted free agent at age 45 unless the Bucs are able to re-sign him. He will be free to sign with any team, if he chooses to continue playing.

“I’m gonna go home and get a good night’s sleep — as good as I can tonight,” Brady said, adding that he has no timetable for making a decision. “This has been all I’ve focused on — this game. It’ll just be one day at a time. Truly.”

A year ago, Brady decided to call it a career. But 40 days later, he changed course, saying in a post on social media, “These past two months I’ve realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands. That time will come. But it’s not now.”

[I think it actually came last year, and Brady refused to accept it. I watched the game last night, as well as a few of the Bucs’ games this year, and Brady just looked slow and lost on the field. His arm has the same zip, but too many of his throws were behind the receivers and too often he was out of sync on the reads. He had one drive late in the third quarter which looked like the Brady of old and scored a TD, but that was the exception. He’s not the only reason the Bucs went 8-9 this season, but he’s certainly *one* of the reasons. He may come back to play elsewhere next season, but he probably shouldn’t.

If you’re on Twitter, have fun with this poll. — Ed]

In 2023, Tom Brady will be ..

— Ed Morrissey (@EdMorrissey) January 17, 2023