Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady has officially retired, per reports.
Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion, competed in the NFL for 22 seasons, finishing up his career with the Buccaneers in a two year-stretch. Brady also played with the Patriots for the first twenty years of his career.
Brady’s announcement comes after his last game with the team just a week ago, when the 44-year-old quarterback nearly engineered a 24-point comeback against the Los Angeles Rams. Reports suggest that the veteran’s mind had already been made up beforehand, and that the days prior to the announcement were spent preparing.
“I’ll know when I know,” Brady said on his podcast “Let’s Go” a few days ago. “I think for all of us, you know, we can all decompress a bit. It’s been six straight months of football. Every day consumed by day in and day out football. And I think now it’s just some time to spend some time with my family and spend some time with my kids.”
Brady’s accolades, which span across both the NFL regular and post seasons, include five Super Bowl MVP’s, 3 NFL MVP’s, 15 Pro Bowls, the most career wins by a player and the all-time leader in both passing touchdowns (624) and yards (85,520). He is widely considered to be the greatest quarterback, if not the greatest player, in NFL history.
Sources expect a personal announcement to come in the following days.
The “reports”, that claim his mind was made up are wrong. According to his dad whom I believe. A 23rd season would not have been easy. Ask Warren Moon.