Tom Brady likely to remain in NFC South for at least one more year

The New Orleans Saints failed to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2016 season. Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the NFC South but were knocked out of the playoffs in the Divisional Round by the Los Angeles Rams.

With Brady’s early exit from the postseason, the buzz after that game was if the seven-time Super Bowl champion would finally call it a career.

Unfortunately, the odds are favoring another season for Brady. Iain MacMillan of BetSided discussed the odds of Brady retiring. The odds of him returning are -220 and the odds of him retiring are set at +175.

Saints might have to deal with Tom Brady for one more year.

Fortunately, New Orleans isn’t scared of Brady. They’re 4-0 in the regular season against him and 4-1 overall as the one-loss happened in last year’s playoffs. Not only have the Saints beaten Brady but they’ve kicked his butt in all four outings. He looked atrocious against them in both outings this season.

MacMillan said this about Brady potentially retiring:

"He had the chance to defend last year’s Super Bowl championship and fell short. Is there any purpose for him to come back for another season except for pure love for the game and his competitive spirit? No, there really isn’t."

Here’s what he said about Brady returning:

"Retirement becomes a lot easier when your game is deteriorating and you start to feel like you’re hurting your team more than helping them. Peyton Manning’s career comes to mind as a perfect example. Even if he wanted to, there was almost no way he could continue to play at an NFL level at the end of career. That’s yet to happen in Brady’s career."

This is what it probably comes down to. As MacMillan mentioned with Manning, when a quarterback is clearly deteriorating and no longer helping the team but rather hurting them, it’s time to hang up the cleats. Yes, the Broncos won that final Super Bowl with Manning at the helm but they won it on the backs of their stout defense.

Brady is still putting up excellent numbers and while he has more bad games now, he’s still one of the best quarterbacks in the league. It’d be hard for him to call it a career when he just threw for 5,316 yards and 43 touchdowns. His interception numbers have increased recently but that’s because he’s been throwing it more.

"10 potential quarterback options that Saints fans would sign off on"

Saints fans probably don’t mind a potential Brady return because the team has had his number but I’d like to see him retire so that other quarterbacks can have a chance to play in the big game.