Stephen A. Smith implores Tom Brady to take his $375 million from Fox and retire from football: ‘It’s time’

Stephen A. Smith is ready to stop watching Tom Brady on the football field because according to the First Take host, it’s time to see what he can do in the broadcast booth.

After Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers squandered a 17-point lead to the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday afternoon, Smith went on First Take Monday morning and claimed it’s officially time for the quarterback to retire, again.

“It’s time. Just so we don’t look at you any different,” Smith said, wanting Brady to retire to avoid the risk of embarrassing himself on the football field. “I don’t believe we’ll ever see the best of Tom Brady again.”

Not exactly a bold take considering we’re talking about a 45-year-old quarterback.

“If I looked you in the face,” Smith continued. “And I said, ‘the best that you ever were, will never be again, but over here, I got a job for you where you still stay involved in the game and it’s gonna pay you $37.5 million per year,’ what would you do?”

That might be an enticing offer for an aging professional athlete if it was a “now or never” type of deal, but Brady’s $375 million contract with Fox isn’t going anywhere. Brady has the lead NFL analyst seat with Fox waiting for him whether he finally retires from playing football after this season, the next, or five years from now.

“This should be it for him,” Smith said of Brady. “And he should be in the booth next year.” That’s a declaration Greg Olsen certainly won’t appreciate as he clings to Brady’s Fox chair for as long as the quarterback keeps getting lured back out to the football field.

The idea that we’ve already seen the best of Brady on the football field is pretty obvious. But at this point, it’s still a lot more impressive to watch what Brady can do at 45 years old than it is to think about what he was able to do five, 10, or even 20 years ago.

Credit Smith for waiting until Brady is 45 to declare him finished rather than rushing to write his eulogy in 2016 the way Max Kellerman continues to get roasted for. While Smith’s take about Brady isn’t very hot, it’s interesting to hear him openly root for something that may impact his own show. Not only is Smith sending the 45-year-old quarterback to a competitor in Fox, but he’s erasing one of his most frequent topics off First Take’s rundown by removing Brady from the football field once and for all.

[First Take]