Tom Brady Retires

ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Tom Brady has announced his retirement from the NFL on Saturday. Following the Buccaneers’ loss to the Los Angles Rams on Divisional Weekend, Brady hinted toward retirement, but, it is now official, Tom Brady retires.

The term great is thrown around like the world love in our society. However, when it comes to Brady, the word great is an understatement. Brady defines what an NFL quarterback should be. From top-to-bottom, the goat checked off every box.

Brady had the look, the stature, the skill set, and the leadership qualities to be the best that ever played the game. But it was the intangibles that made it all come together.

While many want to make the case for Joe Montana as the goat, they cant. Brady’s resume speaks for itself.

Resume

• 7x Super Bowl Champion (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLIX, LI, LIII, LV)
• 5x Super Bowl MVP (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XLIX, LI, LV)
• 3x NFL MVP (2007, 2010, 2017)
• 2x NFL Offensive Player of the Year (2007, 2010)
• 1x Comeback Player of the Year (2009)
• 15x Pro Bowler (2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009–2018, 2021)
• 3× First-team All-Pro (2007, 2010, 2017)
• 3× Second-team All-Pro (2005, 2016, 2021)
• Unanimous NFL 2010s All-Decade Team
• Unanimous NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team

NFL Records

• Most career quarterback wins (243)
• Most career passing attempts (11,317)
• Most career passing completions (7,263)
• Most career passing touchdowns (624)
• Most career passing yards (84,520)
• Most pass completions in a season (485 in 2021)
• Longest touchdown pass (99 yards)

Brady, 44, retires with 84,520 passing yards, 624 passing touchdowns, and 203 interceptions in 22 seasons. He also retires with a 97.6 career passer rating.

The difference between Brady and Montana comes down to eras. When Montana played, there was no free agency and it was a lot easier to keep a team together. Brady played in the free agency era. Teammates came and went. However, Brady’s New England Patriots did it right and kept their core assets intact for the most part. Brady also never had a Jerry Rice. Brady has yet to inform the team of his retirement

Brady’s decision to retire likely came down to several factors. Family, wife, children, age, and health. I don’t respect Brady to fade away from the spotlight, however.

Expect Brady to begin heavily pushing several of his business endeavors including his TB12 diet regimen, 199 Productions, and also an apparel line. He has also appeared on a Sirius XM Radio show with Larry Fitzgerald.

He’s Tom Brady. He can do whatever he wants.

Is Brady done? Being a conspiracy theorist, I am not quite sure. We have seen athletes walk away from the game before only to miss it a few months later and return for one more season. This especially holds true for quarterbacks — cc Brett Favre.

There is also this. Per longtime Buccaneers beat writer Rick Stroud, Brady has yet to inform the team of his retirement. That came right from HC Bruce Arians’ mouth. In fact, Brady’s agent, Donald Yee told Stroud that “he [Brady] hasn’t made up his mind.”

As for the Buccaneers, they have a lot of decisions to be made this offseason that go beyond Brady. OC Byron Leftwich is expected to be hired as the new head coach of the Jaguars. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers will enter the offseason with $11.1M of cap space and ample notable free agents to re-sign — Chris Godwin, Rob Gronkowski, and Jason Pierre-Paul, just to name a few.

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