Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady will soon be bringing his legendary NFL career to a close, according to a new report.
The report by CBS is based on sources identified as “close to” Brady or “within his inner circle” and are not named.
Brady’s Buccaneers lost to the Los Angeles Rams Sunday 30-27.
— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) January 28, 2022
The report indicates that an announcement could come soon, because Brady would not want to upstage the week of hype that leads up to the Super Bowl.
The report indicated that Brady might not want to wait until after the Super Bowl, because the longer he waits to announce his departure, the less time Tampa Bay has to figure out how to fill the void that will come when Brady departs after 22 years as one of the NFL’s all-time legends.
“He is very respectful of the game, and has great respect for the Tampa organization and all they have done for him,” CBS quoted what it said was “one source close to the quarterback” as saying.
“He understands the ramifications that this decision would have on the team moving forward, and he would never want to do anything to upstage the playoffs. Whatever he decides, I’d expect he announces it soon,” the source said.
NFL announcer and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo had a unique take on what might next.
“The Tom Brady one’s really interesting. I don’t know anything, no inside information. I don’t talk to Tom at all about this. This is kind of how I think he would retire,” Romo said, according to Sports Illustrated.
“Just knowing him a little bit, I’m like it’s going to be quick, it’s going to be, ‘What? Whoa! Boom!’ It’s going to be a little bit of a shock. It’s not going to be this fairy tale ending,” he said.
“I think when he wins it, I think he’s opposite of what some people think. I think that’s when he goes away, when he loses. Just because it’s actually like, ‘OK, when I win it I want to see if I can be the first one to win three in a row.’ There’s always another thing. Once you don’t have that ability, which I think is getting close here, I think this is how he walks away,” he said.
Romo suggested that the end might not be the end for Brady.
“I think sneakily, there’s a chance that Tom Brady retires and may, I’m just saying, could come back in two years. This is just crazy but he’s like a bionic man. If he is right, well he’s not hurt, he’s still playing great. He may need to refresh like [Michael] Jordan, and go two years away, and maybe start another challenge. Because otherwise he has nothing else to prove,” he said.
Brady offered a comment about his future after the loss to the Rams.
Tom Brady on his Let’s Go podcast.
“I said this a few years ago, it's what relationships are all about. It's not always what I want. It's 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.”
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) January 25, 2022
“I said this a few years ago, it’s what relationships are all about. It’s not always what I want,” he said. “It’s 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.”
