The last few weeks have seen plenty of discussion about if Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ quarterback Tom Brady would in fact retire this offseason, with that intensifying following the Bucs’ Jan. 23 playoff loss against the Los Angeles Rams. Well, as per ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington, it now looks like Brady (seen above after a Jan. 16 playoff win) is indeed retiring:
Tom Brady is retiring from football after 22 extraordinary seasons, multiple sources tell @JeffDarlington and me.
More coming on https://t.co/rDZaVFhcDQ. pic.twitter.com/6CHWmMlyXg
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 29, 2022
Brady’s company then seemed to confirm this:
https://twitter.com/TB12sports/status/1487513088735731712
Update: This now appears a little more uncertain, as @TB12Sports deleted that tweet, and Brady’s father denied the news. And Bally Sports’ Michael Silver and the Tampa Bay Tribune‘s Rick Stroud reported that Brady has not yet told Bucs’ GM Jason Licht this:
Report for @BallySports: Tom Brady contacted @Buccaneers GM Jason Licht and told him he has not yet made a final decision on retirement, disputing the ESPN report. Licht is respecting Brady's process and waiting for a definitive answer, whenever it comes, from the QB.
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) January 29, 2022
Pump the brakes for a bit.
Tom Brady has not informed the Bucs of his plans to retire. “No, he hasn’t that we know of,” Bruce Arians told me. “Agent (Donald Yee) just told us he hasn’t made up his mind.” https://t.co/1pb7AC4U45— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) January 29, 2022
Confirming Tom Brady has called #Bucs GM Jason Licht to inform him he has NOT made up his mind about retiring or playing in 2022. @MikeSilver reported it first.
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) January 29, 2022
However, ESPN added a “we stand by our reporting” statement, which they issued to Kyle Koster of The Big Lead:
Statement from ESPN on Tom Brady story: “We stand by our reporting.”
— Kyle Koster (@KyleKoster) January 29, 2022
At any rate, Darlington and Schefter eventually published this piece on the news. And if Brady is actually retiring, that is definitely news: Brady’s retirement was certainly discussed, especially with him turning 44 last August, but it wasn’t certain. And a large part of that is how remarkably well he’s continued to play into his 40s. This year in particular, he threw for a career-high 5,316 yards; some of that is about a 17-game season (he started every game), but he only previously hit 5,000 passing yards once, with 5,235 in 2011.
Brady also posted 43 touchdowns against 12 interceptions this season. So if he had wanted to continue playing, that certainly would have been possible, and probably desired by the Buccaneers (especially considering that their current backup is…Blaine Gabbert). And while it’s not yet 100 percent clear this retirement will hold, it’s already seen a lot of reactions on Brady’s career. Here are some of the Twitter reactions to this report of Brady’s retirement:
Tom Brady's 22-year career:
* 7X Super Bowl champion
* 5X Super Bowl MVP
* 3X NFL MVP
* 15X Pro Bowl
* 6X All Pro
* NFL's all time passing TD leader (624)
* NFL's all passing yard leader (85,520)
* Most career wins: 243🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) January 29, 2022
Thanks for the memories, babe. @TomBrady pic.twitter.com/lCqCVn13tI
— Julian Edelman (@Edelman11) January 29, 2022
When Tom Brady began speaking on his podcast about putting family first, you knew it was time. No retirement tour. Just walking away.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 29, 2022
Tom Brady said he wanted to play until 45. He nearly made it. But 22 seasons, 15 Pro Bowls, 3 MVPs, 7 Super Bowls will have to suffice.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 29, 2022
Tom Brady is the first guy to retire in his prime while also being one of the oldest players in the history of his sport. Beautiful.
— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) January 29, 2022
To put Tom Brady's career into perspective… pic.twitter.com/hHWCvHWRWd
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) January 29, 2022
As noted above, though, there is still some uncertainty here. We’ll update this post when it becomes more clear if Brady is retiring or not.
[Photo from Kim Klement/USA Today Sports]
