Tom Brady is retiring from football after 22 seasons and a historic championship run with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers resulting in seven Super Bowl victories. On Saturday, Jan. 29, sources close to Brady reported his retirement to ESPN’s Jeff Darlington and Adam Schefter – who went public with the information soon after.
The sources reported that last weekend when Brady walked off the field after suffering a loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the Divisional Round of the playoffs, he knew it would be his last game as a player. Brady has been emphatic about not wanting a “farewell season” while also citing family and health as additional reasons to consider upon contemplating retirement.
When speaking to the media over the past summer, Tom Brady told reporters that he planned to play until he was 45 years old. “I’ve always said that 45 was the age that I wanted to reach and that was my goal,” said Brady in a press conference in June.
Brady, 44, will be turning 45 in August and will meet his goal to some degree.
The Buccaneers had hoped to persuade him to rejoin the organization but ultimately feared that this moment had been coming in recent weeks as sources told ESPN.
On Saturday, Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians told the Tampa Bay Times that he had no idea that Tom Brady intended on retiring.
“He hasn’t that we know if,” Arians said “Agent [Diana Yee] told us he hasn’t made up his mind.”
Brady’s agent then released a statement saying, “I understand the advance speculation about Tom’s future,” she then continued to defer the announcement of the retirement to Brady himself stating, “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.”
This could mean that we will be receiving a statement from Tom Brady in a press conference and more than likely a Roethlisberger-esque video posted to social media — thanking both the Patriots and Bucs organizations respectively. Either way, get ready for the waterworks and rightfully so for a man who’s span of greatness covered almost the entirety people’s lives born in Generation Z to date.
Tom Brady retires as the “GOAT” of the NFL – with an illustrious career that we may never witness again. Among these accolades of course are the seven championship victories, an accomplishment that no other player in NFL history has achieved paired with five Super Bowl MVPs. He will finish with the record for most touchdown passes (624) and passing yard (84,250) and undoubtedly be a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee as he goes down as the best to ever do it.
From Foxborough to Tampa all the way to Canton, right where he belongs.
Thank you, Tom, it was an honor.