(Update 2/1/2022) Tuesday morning, Tom Brady officially announced his retirement from football in a social media post.
Original story:
You can go ahead and stop reading that lengthy Tom Brady tribute article. The greatest quarterback of all-time has not decided whether his 22nd season will be his last.
On Monday, Brady joined Jim Gray on the “Let’s Go” podcast and announced that he has yet to decide on his future.
“It was still a good week for me,” Brady said. “I’m still going through the process I said I was going through. Sometimes it takes some time to really evaluate how you feel, what you want to do. I think when the time is right, I’ll be ready to make a decision one way or another like I said last week.”
On Saturday, Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington of ESPN reported that Brady was going to announce his retirement, according to sources. Shortly after the announcement, multiple reports pushed back on the news, saying that Brady had yet to make a decision.
According to the Associated Press, Brady had not yet made the decision to retire on Saturday and called Tampa Bay general manager Jason Licht to inform him that a decision had not been made.
On Monday, Gray asked Brady if he was surprised by Schefter’s report.
“It’s a good line that I’m responsible for what I say and do, and not responsible for what others say or do,” Brady said. “So, again I think one thing I’ve learned about sports is you control what you can control. What you can’t, you leave to others.”
“Everyone I know, we’re in such an era of information and people want to be in front of the news often, and I totally understand that,” Brady continued. “I understand that’s the environment we’re in. I think for me it’s literally day-to-day with me. Trying to do the best I can every day, and evaluate things as they come. And, trying to make a great decision for me and my family.”
If Brady does call it quits, he would finish his illustrious career with seven Super Bowl rings — the most by a player in NFL history — and as the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards, completions, and passing touchdowns. At 44, Brady led Tampa Bay to a 13-4 regular season and led the league in passing yards (5,316) and passing touchdowns (43).
Brady said that he was disappointed that the report took away from the AFC and NFC Championships games on Sunday.
“I don’t know what different intentions are, and you know it’s not for me to control those things,” Brady said. “There’s some very important games going on over the weekend, and I know how hard those players work on Sunday to prepare for that.”
“I was actually a little bit disappointed that would actually play some part of what’s going on in NFL football, which to me is such an amazing sport,” he continued. “It’s a great sport, and the focus should be on those great games. You’re right, for me, I was trying to enjoy a nice weekend. It didn’t quite turn that way because my phone got really busy, but that’s just part of being in the situation I’m in.”
Brady was drafted by the New England Patriots with the 199th pick of the 2000 NFL Draft and took over as the starting quarterback during the 2001 season after an injury to Drew Bledsoe. He would go on to lead New England to the organization’s first championship and win five more Super Bowls with the Patriots in his 20 seasons under head coach Bill Belichick.
He left New England following the 2019 season and won his seventh Super Bowl in his first season in Tampa Bay.
“I don’t know. I’ll know when the time is right,” Brady said when asked if he had a timeline for making a decision. “Like I’ve always said, I’m very blessed to play as long as I have. As things have gone on in the later parts of my career, whether that was five years ago or even this year, there’s a lot of interest in when I’m going to stop playing. I understand that. It’s not that I don’t recognize that. When I know, I’ll know. When I don’t know, I don’t know. I’m not going to race to some conclusion about that.”
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].