Tom Brady will keep playing 'as long as his body allows him or until he gets tired,' says Patriots legend Vince Wilfork

• Tom Brady's 23rd NFL season came to an end this weekend when the Buccaneers lost to the Cowboys.
• Brady's next chapter — be it retirement or a new team — will again dominate the NFL off-season.
• Former Patriots teammate Vince Wilfork, however, told Insider that Brady still has plenty to offer.

Tom Brady's 23rd NFL season ended with a whimper on Monday night, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers falling to the Dallas Cowboys 31-14.

With his 2022 campaign officially closed, Brady's plans for 2023 will now become the favored topic of speculation, with plenty of options on the table for the greatest quarterback of all time.

—NFL (@NFL) January 17, 2023

Brady could decide to hang up his cleats, as he did, however briefly, before the start of the 2022 season.

He could also return for a fourth year with the Buccaneers, with whom he has already won a Super Bowl and two straight NFC South division titles.

Finally, he could decide that it's time for another change of scenery, and shake up what should already be a wild off-season market for starting quarterbacks.

Discussions about Brady's future began basically as soon as he stepped off the field on Monday night, only fueled further by what sounded like a goodbye of sorts as he spoke with reporters from the post-game podium in Tampa Bay.

—Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) January 17, 2023

But according to Brady's former teammate Vince Wilfork, who spent a decade with the GOAT on the New England Patriots, Brady still has plenty to offer the game.

Asked if he was surprised to see his former quarterback still playing in the league at the age of 45, Wilfork offered a resounding "no."

"No part of his game has diminished," Wilfork told Insider. "Tom's going to play as long as his body allows him or until he gets tired."

For Wilfork, who hung up his cleats after 13 NFL seasons as a dominant defender, retirement was a both a business decision and a life decision.

"I retired because I wanted to do something else in life. I was playing football over 20 years, and it was time for me to do something else," Wilfork told Insider, while promoting his new competitive cooking show on Food Network.

"I wasn't hurt, I wasn't feeling bad. I kind of lost the interest because I started thinking about other things I wanted to do while I was still playing. I always told people, 'Hey, once my mind start wondering something else, it's time for me to leave the game.'"

Like Wilfork, Brady has plenty of opportunities to explore options outside of being an NFL quarterback should he decide to retire. He already has a broadcast deal in place to join a commentary booth on FOX if he thinks he's ready to give up the game.

That said, Brady still looks like he has plenty of productive football left in him. While his numbers weren't at the MVP level he had touched in 2021, Brady was third in the league in passing yards this year and led the NFL with 733 pass attempts — not bad for a 45-year-old arm.

Chances are, we won't know Brady's decision for some time.

"Well, I think next time I decide to retire, that's it for me," Brady joked on his podcast, "Let's Go!" "So whenever that day comes, we'll figure it out."