Less than a week following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ playoff elimination in the NFC divisional round, Tom Brady has reportedly elected to call it a career.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington reported on Saturday that Brady has decided to retire after 22 seasons in the NFL. His official retirement announcement is currently up in the air, as the longtime quarterback does not want to “upstage” the ongoing NFL playoffs.
Schefter and Darlington note that Brady’s decision to retire has come down to three notable factors: family, healthy and the pending turnaround with the Buccaneers roster.
Following the Buccaneers’ defeat to the Rams in the divisional round, Brady reportedly felt that it was his “final act as a football player.” More so, he spent the past week mulling over his options and is now “preparing for the next chapter” of his life.
During the recent Sirius XM’s “Let’s Go! with Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray” podcast, the seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback did note that his future in the NFL would hinge on what his family wanted, as he planned to “spend a lot of time with them” to further go over whether he should return for the 2022 campaign with the Buccaneers.
As Schefter noted, health was also a priority for the five-time Super Bowl MVP. While he has not missed a single game due to injury since the 2008 season, he is going to turn 45 in August, and not many athletes before him in any professional sport extended their careers into their mid-40s.
Finally, the Buccaneers may see a notable turnover within their roster in the upcoming offseason. The team will have multiple standout players on offense become unrestricted free agents in March, including wideout Chris Godwin and running back Leonard Fournette.
Schefter and Darlington did add that the Buccaneers “hoped” to make an “emphatic” pitch to Brady to convince him to return for the final year of his contract with the team. Barring any major changes in the coming months, Brady has reportedly now played in his last game in the NFL.
Brady holds a multitude of NFL records, including the most passing touchdowns (624) and playoff wins (35).