Patriots Ex Tom Brady Concedes: ‘I Know I’m at The End’

"I know I don't have a lot left, I really do. I know I'm at the end of my career," Brady says.

Sometimes it seems like Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, the legendary former New England Patriots star, is going to beat Father Time …

Because in some mystical and magical way, is IS Father Time.

But in reality, he is actually just “Father Tom” - a full-time dad in waiting as he prepares to close his brilliant career.

"I know I don't have a lot left, I really do. I know I'm at the end of my career," Brady said. "I wish you could go forever, but it's just not and football comes at too high of a cost now. My kids are getting older and it's just getting harder and harder to miss these things.”

That of course is why he retired this off-season … before he didn’t..

CREDIT: DAVID J. PHILLIP/AP/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

While speaking with ESPN, the 44-year-old seven-time Super Bowl champion sounded like a man with plenty of desire - but also with a dose of reality.

“I knew my body, physically, could still do what it could do and obviously I have a love for the game, I think I'll always have a love for the game," Brady said. "I do think physically I'll be able to do it. I just felt like there was still a place for me on the field."

That “place,” it seems, is one better than where we last saw him, in a playoff loss. Some things have changed; Tampa Bay head coach Bruce Arians has retired amid rumors that Brady had something to do with it; Brady himself is the centerpiece of a report that would have him jump to the Miami Dolphins as a player/owner. And there are the rumors of him wanting to play one more year, next season, for his hometown San Francisco 49ers. 

But most of all, Brady suggests, one more go at this is fueled by him not wanting to walk away with the "bitter" taste of that playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams still present.

“But,” he said, “I wanted to give myself and my teammates and our organization another incredible opportunity to accomplish something that we'd all be very proud of.”