This is it, for real this time. During the early morning hours of February 1, while sitting on a beach in Florida, legendary quarterback Tom Brady made the inevitable announcement; he is retiring. “For good this time,” he said in his emotional video.
“Good morning. I’ll get to the point right away. I’m retiring for good,” Brady said at the time of the video he shared on Instagram this morning before getting choked up. “I know the process was a pretty big deal last time, so when I woke up this morning, I figured I’d just press record and let you guys know first.”
“I won’t be longwinded, you only get one super long emotional retirement essay, and I used mine up last year. I really thank you, guys, so much to every single one of you for supporting me, my family, my friends, my teammates, my competitors; I could go on forever. There are too many. Thank you, guys, for allowing me to live my absolute dream. I wouldn’t change a thing. Love you all.”
As At The Buzzer recently reported, on a recent episode of his Sirius XM “Let’s Go!” podcast with Jim Gray, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady was defensive over his future retirement plans.
After the Buccaneers lost to the Dallas Cowboys at home in the NFC wild-card round, many people became curious about the 45-year-old’s plan for next season. Asking the question that everyone is wondering, interviewer Gray asked the quarterback what his next move is and whether or not this year would be his year in the NFL. To everyone’s surprise, he was a tad hostile with his answer.
“Jim, if I knew what I was going to f—ing do, I would’ve already f—ing done it,” Brady responded. “Ok? I’m taking it a day at a time.”
When Gray defended his curiosity and informed the athlete that he was just asking the question everybody is curious about. Brady then relayed a sympathetic, “I appreciate your asking. Thank you.”
RELATED: Taylor Decker is FURIOUS Over FedEx Mishandling 30+ Days Worth of Wife’s Breastmilk
However, this was not the first time in recent weeks that the legendary quarterback has been asked about his future in the NFL. During a press conference, he was asked the big question and gave an equally vague answer. “I’m going to go home and get a good night’s sleep as soon as I can tonight,” Brady said of his future. “There’s been a lot of focus on this game. Just one day at a time.”
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport on Tom Brady’s future
Although the Tampa Bay player can be as vague as he wants in interviews, there are realistically only a handful of options left for him. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport shed light earlier this month on the potential options Brady has as a soon-to-be 46-year-old athlete.
“Tom Brady is a free agent after this season. He will be 46 years old, and I would say there’s a chance he does not return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers despite the fact that they very much want him back and plan to make efforts toward that,” Rapoport said.
The NFL insider went on to discuss the possible teams that would have the quarterback, including ones where some of his friends reside. “The Tennessee Titans still have some quarterback questions there. The 49ers, if they do not decide to rock with Brock Purdy – he’s certainly stating his case. And the Las Vegas Raiders, who have several of his old friends, including Josh McDaniels,” Rapport shared.
Below is the timeline from 2022, when Brady first announced he would retire, to the moment, 40 days later, when he unretired.
Tom Brady Makes Announcement People Probably Didn’t See Coming
In a second announcement made on March 13, Tom Brady has already unretired.
If you can recall, At The Buzzer reported that after falling short of making his 11th Super Bowl run, Brady said his 22nd season in the NFL would be his last. Now, he has changed his mind.
In a statement he published on Instagram, Brady said he used his first two months of retirement to reflect on what it would mean for him to not play his 23rd year in the league. And that’s when he realized he wasn’t quite done yet.
“These past two months I have realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands. That time will come. But it’s not now,” Brady wrote.
“I love my teammates, and I love my supportive family. Without them, none of this is possible. I’m coming back for my 23rd season in Tampa. We have unfinished business.”
Brady signed his statement with the letters LFG, which stand for “Let’s f*cking go.” It’s unclear what his wife, Gisele Bundchen, thinks about this move.
Tom and Gisele have just celebrated their 13th year of marriage together. And it is well documented that while the model has enjoyed watching her husband play the game he loves, she was ready for him to retire and spend more time as a family.
Following his February 1 retirement statement, Gisele made one of her own, writing, “So many memories! When I met you over 15 years ago, I didn’t know the first thing about football.”
“But cheering for you and seeing you do what you love most made me learn about this wonderful game to the point that I seriously believed I knew more than the referees,” Bündchen continued. She concluded with the sentiments, “There is nothing you can’t achieve. I have always been here for you, you know that, and I’m as excited as you are for what the future holds!”
Brady hasn’t deleted his initial retirement statement. In part, he wrote, “This is difficult for me to write, but here it goes: I am not going to make that competitive commitment anymore. I have loved my NFL career, and now it is time to focus my time and energy on other things that require my attention.”
So what do you think? Is this just the type of drama Brady needs to send him to his 11th Super Bowl?
Only time will tell!
Contents
What to Read Next...
At The Buzzer, or ATB is the place for those who love sports, life, family, community, and so much more. We are far from the run-of-the-mill 24/7 sports news websites. We not only bring you what’s happening in the world of sports in terms of trades and breaking news, but we also bring you the news that goes on behind the scenes, like big life moments, and so much more. So take a minute and read one of our articles, we promise you won't regret it.