After saying he hadn’t really thought about his future following a 30-27 loss to the Rams in the playoffs, Bucs quarterback Tom Brady is clearly thinking about it now. On the “Let’s Go!” podcast with Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray on SiriusXM, Brady laid out his thought process. The All-Pro was transparent about weighing the importance of spending time with family. Brady also made it clear that the desires of his wife, Gisele Bundchen, will be a big priority in his decision.

Here are the questions answers between Gray and Brady on the latest episode of “Let’s Go!”.

Jim Gray:  “You were asked after the game what’s next?  You said you’re going to take some time.  You will decompress.  When will you begin that process and how will that go with your review?”

Tom Brady:  “Well, I think the point is there’s no really rush for me to figure out what’s next.  You know, I’ll know when I know.  It’s a day after the season.  So I think for all of us, you know, we can all decompress a bit.  It’s been six straight months of football, every day consumed by day in and day out football. And I think now it’s just some time to spend some time with my family and spend some time with my kids and…”

Vivian:  “Hello!” (Brady’s daughter, Vivian, chimes in from background)

Brady:  “That’s my little angel.  You know, get some time with her.  We had waffles together this morning, which was really nice.  And, you know what, I think as I’ve gotten older, I think the best part is, is football is extremely important in my life. It means a lot to me. I care a lot about what we’re trying to accomplish as a team.  And I care a lot about my teammates.

“And the biggest difference now that I’m older is I have kids now too, you know, and I care about them a lot as well.  They’ve been my biggest supporters.  My wife is my biggest supporter.  It pains her to see me get hit out there.  And she deserves what she needs from me as a husband and my kids deserve what they need from me as a dad.  I’m gonna spend some time with them and give them what they need, ‘cause they’ve really been giving me what I need the last six months to do what I love to do.  I said this a few years ago, it’s what relationships are all about.  It’s not always what I want.  It’s what we want as a family.  And I’m gonna spend a lot of time with them and figure out in the future what’s next.”

Gray:  “And we’ve had a lot of fun with this and you’ve taken it all in stride and been a great sport about it. You’re 44 years old, Tom.  Playing professional football with guys half your age.  You’re taunting guys now, ‘Ask your dad about me. I played against him.’  But you’re 44 years old.  You’ve said you wanted to play ‘til 45.  This year you were at the top of your game, you led all the statistical categories for quarterbacks.

“So it’s clear you can still continue to play this game at the level you want to play.  You don’t suck.  And that’s when you said you’d quit.  It kind of comes down to what you just mentioned about family.  Would you like a farewell tour?  Would you like to be able to say goodbye?  To compete one more time and know that you’re taking it all in, in that vein, as opposed to possibly just leaving and not having that preparation?”

Brady:  “Mmm, I think that would be distracting for me.  I’m really an ultimate, my enjoyment comes from not a recognition of kind of what I’ve accomplished as a player in the league.  My enjoyment comes from the competition.  Moreso than anything, even yesterday, I was thinking about competing.  I was thinking about, this whole year, about competing.  I wasn’t thinking about anything other than that.  So when the time comes to think about post career and second career I’ll think about those things.  It’s just when you’re 44, I guess you get asked about that a lot.  And a lot of people thought I was done playing football in 2015.  A lot of people in 2016 said, ‘You’re done.’  A lot of people in 2018, and when I left the Patriots, they said, ‘You’re done.’”

Gray:  “You had a boss in 2000 who thought you’d never make it, so you would be done before you started.”

Brady:  “Yeah, exactly.  You know, every year I just have to make sure that I have the ability to commit to what the team really needs.  And that’s really important to me.  The team doesn’t deserve anything less than my best.  And if I feel like I’m not committed to that, or I can’t play at a championship level, then you gotta give someone else a chance to play.  And, you know, we’ll see.

Again, there’s a long time between now and the start of next football season.  I’ve gotta really figure those things out, which is probably natural for anyone.  And at the same time I would say this, we never know what’s gonna happen in the future.  We really don’t.  I mean, Kobe Bryant, a friend of ours, God rest his soul.  You think you’re gonna live forever.  We’re not.  We think we’re gonna play forever.  We’re not.  What can we do?  We can enjoy the moments that we have.

“As difficult as it was to lose the game yesterday, I was glad I played in it.  And I was glad I was a part of it.  And as challenging as the season was, I was glad I played and glad I participated.  ‘Cause I’m living my life and I’m not just counting the days.  So my days are meaningful to me.  I’m gonna try to keep ’em meaningful to me.  And, you know, in the meantime I’m gonna do as best I can to enjoy, you know, the time that I have not playing football.  ‘Cause that’s equally important.

“Playing football I get so much joy from.  I love it.  But not playing football, there’s a lot of joy in that for me also now, too, with my kids getting older and seeing them develop and grow.  So all these things need to be considered. And they will be.  And, you know, the funny part is always that most guys retire and then move to Florida.  I’m already in Florida!  So it’s really confusing, even to me.”

Gray:  “There’s two lines that you could go with in your head, and what the fans in the public would think as well.  One line of thinking is: He could never live with leaving the game like that.  A comeback that fell just short after such a stellar career.  The other line of thinking is: god damn, I can be so proud of that.  Depleted, all the stuff that went on, down 27-3 and we fell just a hair short and I wasn’t on the field.  Couldn’t do anything about it when it ended and that’s just the way it is, so I can leave proud and satisfied.  How would you respond to that?  Could you leave proud and satisfied or would that always linger with you, this last loss?”

Brady:  “I would say I’m proud and satisfied of everything we accomplished this year.  So I know when I give it my all, that’s something to be proud of.  And I’ve literally given everything I had this year, last year, the year before that, the year before that.  Like, I don’t leave anything half-ass, you know?  I think I leave it with everything that I have.  My physical being, I work really hard on that.  I feel like I give everything I can to my teammates.

“[But] it is divided attention as you get older. Because there’s different priorities and responsibilities in life.  And, you know, I have things happening outside of football that require some time and energy.  Not a ton but, you know, the kids require time and energy and that’s enjoyable for me, too.  So again, it’s a, you know, I’ll know when the time is right and there’s no rush to make a decision.  So, you know, we’ll just see.”