Buccaneers QB Tom Brady: Expanding to 17-game NFL season 'a terrible decision'

Tampa Bay Buccaneers starting quarterback Tom Brady has been outspoken about different NFL topics since he earned his seventh Super Bowl ring in February of this year. Brady lashed out at the rule change that allowed offensive and defensive players to switch to single-digit jersey numbers, and he later agreed that the league's controversial emphasis on flagging players for taunting penalties "stinks" and is "ruining the game."  

During the latest edition of the "Let's Go!" SiriusXM show and podcast, Brady declined to comment on Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers testing positive for COVID-19 as an unvaccinated player last week after Rodgers implied before the campaign he had received one of the safe and available vaccines. Legendary broadcaster Jim Gray also asked Brady about the NFL expanding the regular season to 17 games per club, and the future Hall of Famer had plenty to say on that subject. 

"I think it’s pointless," Brady explained about the longer season, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. "I thought it was a terrible decision. So I don’t like the fact that we’re playing a 17th game at all. I think 16 is plenty. And, again, you’re eight games into the year and you’re not halfway through, so that’s kind of a little frustrating aspect. So whatever, I mean, we’ll play it. 

"It’s there, you know, a lot of guys probably miss games over the course of the season anyway, so they probably don’t play all 16, most guys. But, you know, if you’re fortunate to be able to make it through a season and you got to play the 17th game, I think there’s a lot of things that I would adjust to, you know, the offseason, you know, the regular-season schedule. 

"A lot of people know my feelings on some of these topics. I’ve been pretty vocal about NFL issues over the last couple of years and some of the things that are done that I don’t necessarily think are in the best interests of the game."

Brady added that "usually what the owners want the owners get," which is accurate in this instance. It was teased as far back as March the NFL could eventually move to a format that includes every team playing two exhibition matchups and 18 regular-season contests for a total of a minimum of 20 games per club per campaign. 

Logic suggests Brady will be retired by then unless he's serious about staying in the league as an active signal-caller for another decade.