The Uncertainty Surrounding Tom Brady’s Retirement News
21:18 GMT 30.01.2022 (Updated: 18:44 GMT 19.10.2022)
© REUTERS / Kim Klement
Subscribe
According to sources, seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, after 22 seasons, will announce his retirement from the NFL. While Brady has not officially announced his retirement, he has told the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that he is not close to deciding his future.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington broke the news on Saturday, January 29th at 2:29 EST over Twitter, that Tom Brady would reportedly retire from professional football. Their report came from unnamed sources that are alleged to be close to Brady.
Tom Brady is retiring from football after 22 extraordinary seasons, multiple sources tell @JeffDarlington and me.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 29, 2022
More coming on https://t.co/rDZaVFhcDQ. pic.twitter.com/6CHWmMlyXg
In the aftermath of the bombshell announcement that the player, widely-held to be one of the greatest players in history, was set to retire, a slew of pushback came from those close to Brady.
His father, Tom Brady Sr, told a local San Francisco news station that his son had yet to decide on his playing future.
Tom Brady Sr told Mike Giardi of NFL Network, "This story Mike is total conjecture. Tommy has not made a final decision one way or the other and anybody else that says that he has is absolutely wrong."
Tom Brady’s agent, Don Yee, also told NFL Network that Brady’s future was still up in the air.
“I understand the advanced speculation about Tom’s future. Without getting into the accuracy or inaccuracy of what’s being reported, Tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy. He knows the realities of the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody, so that should be soon,” Yee said in a statement.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers told Jeff Howe of The Athletic that Brady was not close to coming to a final decision on his future.
The known source to confirm Brady’s retirement was Tom Brady’s company, TB12 Sports. Following the news, the company released a tweet appearing to confirm his retirement but later deleted it.
The TB12 Sports account deleted this Brady farewell tweet. pic.twitter.com/Iu4CJOB1NP
— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) January 29, 2022
The uncertainty surrounding Brady’s retirement has led some to believe that the initial ESPN report jumped the gun. There remains a belief that Brady will this offseason announce his retirement from professional football, but that he wants to control the timing of the decision.
Until Brady does officially inform the Buccaneers and the world of his decision, his retirement is speculation. Brady would still be required to file retirement papers with the NFL to make it official.
There is precedent for older players to announce their retirement early in the offseason, only to change course as a new season approaches. Hall of Fame Quarterback Brett Favre came out of retirement twice to continue his career, and Brady’s longtime teammate, Rob Gronkowski, came out of retirement to join Brady in Tampa Bay last season.
Brady’s list of achievements is unmatched in the history of the sport. His seven Super Bowl titles are the most-ever for a player and he is tied for second all-time in MVP awards with three. He also owns the NFL career record for games started (316), games won (243), pass completions (7,236), passing touchdowns (624), passing yards (84,520), playoff games (47), and playoff wins (35).
Brady is coming off of one of his most statistically-impressive seasons. He led the league in passing yards (5,316) and passing touchdowns (43). He led the Buccaneers to a 13-4 record and a playoff victory before being ousted by the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round.
Tom Brady will turn 45 in August and, in a 2015 email he said, “I’ve got another 7 or 8 years.”
Playing until 45 has been a long-stated goal of his. If he does retire, it will be one of the few goals where he has come up short.
