Father Time may be coming for Tom Brady, but it appears the quarterback isn’t ready to announce his retirement just yet.
ESPN reported on Saturday afternoon that Brady was retiring at the age of 44 after 22 decorated seasons in the NFL. But soon after the tributes started flowing in for one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, further reports emerged that cast doubt on Brady actually having made a final decision.
After news of his purported retirement went public, Brady called Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht and told him he had not yet made a decision about his future, according to multiple reports. The Athletic reported that Brady told Tampa Bay he was “not even close” to making a decision. Brady’s agent, Don Yee, also released a statement to ESPN in which he neither confirmed nor denied the news, but said, “Tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy.”
Brady’s father, Tom Brady Sr., also told multiple outlets his son had not come to a final decision on his future.
“This story is total conjecture,” Brady Sr. told NFL Network’s Mike Giardi. “Tommy has not made a final decision one way or the other and anybody else that says that he has is absolutely wrong.”
Still, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported he confirmed ESPN’s initial report of Brady planning to retire, adding the pushback appeared to be over the timing of the announcement instead of the decision itself.
It’s possible Brady wanted to wait until after Sunday’s conference championships to announce the news himself. Brady’s TB12 company seemingly confirmed the momentous decision in a tweet thanking Brady for his historic accomplishments, though it was deleted later on Saturday afternoon.
If this is it for Brady, the future Hall of Famer will finish his career with seven Super Bowl championships, three MVPs and five Super Bowl MVPs. He won six of those rings across 20 seasons with the Patriots before winning another last year with the Buccaneers after leaving New England in free agency.
Brady’s quest for one more title, and perhaps a storybook ending to his career, was cut short last Sunday when the Buccaneers lost to the Rams in the NFC divisional round. He led what looked like yet another game-winning drive in the final minutes before the Rams played spoiler and won on a field goal as time expired.
After the loss, Brady was noncommittal about his future, but later provided some hints about what would go into his decision to retire.
“My wife [Gisele Bundchen] is my biggest supporter,” Brady said on his “Let’s Go!” podcast earlier this week. “It pains her to see me get hit out there, and she deserves what she needs from me as a husband and my kids deserve what they need from me as a dad. I’m gonna spend some time with them and give them what they need, because they’ve really been giving me what I need the last six months — to do what I need to do and I said this a few years ago. It’s what relationships are all about. It’s not always about what I want. It’s about what we want as a family. And I’m gonna spend a lot of time with them and figure out in the future what’s next.”
After an unlikely rise to stardom, as a sixth-round pick (199th overall) out of Michigan by the Patriots in 2000, Brady remained incredibly durable throughout his career. The man who championed his “TB12 Method” often talked about playing until he was 45 — the age he will turn in August.
Since taking over after Drew Bledsoe was injured in a game against the Jets in 2001 and never losing the starting job again, Brady started 316 games out of a possible 335. He missed all but one game of the 2008 season after tearing his ACL in the opener and then was suspended for the first four games of the 2016 season as a punishment for Deflategate.
Along the way, Brady amassed 84,520 career passing yards, 624 touchdowns, 7,263 completions — all of which are currently NFL records — and 203 interceptions. He led the league in passing yards four times and touchdowns five times — including both this past season, piling up 5,316 yards and 43 touchdowns for the Buccaneers.
