Is Tom Brady past his prime? Warren Moon thinks so. David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Warren Moon says age has already caught up with Tom Brady

By Zac Wassink | Last updated 6/10/20

When all is said and done, Warren Moon will likely have beaten current Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback and six-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady to the Hall of Fame by about two decades, so the NFL and Canadian Football League icon is no stranger to recognizing when a signal-caller is past his prime.

While making a Tuesday appearance on "The Herd with Colin Cowherd," Moon suggested Brady, who turns 43 in August, already isn't the player of old.

Moon said:

"I can see — especially as he gets later in the season, and you can see this with Drew Brees and some of the other quarterbacks as well — their arms don't have the same pop at the end of the season that they had early in the year.

"That has to do with their age, and that's something I started to see in my career when I got older, that I didn't have that same pop in my arm. A lot of it has to do with your legs because you've just become fatigued over the course of a whole season.

"And you saw Tom's arm that same way at the end of last year. So, It's not a huge deterioration to where he can't throw certain routes, but there will be times when it gets later into the year that you're going to see some of that take its place. He has great talent around him, which is great, and he doesn't have to do as much on that football team, which will be good for him at this stage of his career.

"So, I still think he's gonna have success because of those reasons, but he's not the same quarterback he was three or four years ago."

Per Pro-Football-Reference, the numbers seem to back Moon's analysis. In 2019, Brady's completion percentage and rating were both the lowest he'd posted since the 2019 campaign, and he was 18th overall in QB rating. Brady was also seventh in the league in total passing yards, though, and he spent the majority of the season without multiple safety blankets.

Tight end Rob Gronkowski sat 2019 out in retirement. Troubled wide receiver Josh Gordon made only six appearances with the New England Patriots, and he's again out of the league. Running back James White was second on the Pats in receptions.

Brady will have his fill of weapons in Tampa, where he signed earlier this offseason. Gronkowski unretired and orchestrated a move from the Patriots to the Bucs. Tight ends OJ Howard and Cameron Brate can either both serve as additional weapons or fetch something valuable in a future trade. Chris Godwin and Mike Evans were superstar wide receivers playing alongside Jameis Winston.

Don't forget that history shows Brady takes extra pleasure in silencing doubters who believe he's no longer among the best in the business: