Tom Brady really hates the idea of a farewell tour.
He really, really hates it.
The legendary quarterback, who has increasingly garnered the reputation of being self-involved in recent years, briefly retired this offseason. He made it fewer than 50 days before returning to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and it’s unclear if this season will be his last in the NFL or not.
Brady will be a free agent this offseason, but has been mum about his NFL future beyond the upcoming campaign. That’s because, at least in part, he doesn’t want huge sendoffs everywhere he goes. ESPN's Jeff Darlington made that fairly clear during an appearance Thursday on the "Rich Eisen Show".
“There were a lot of things that were weighing on him (when he retired)," Darlington said, "in terms of just his thoughts about whether – for instance, he didn’t want to come back and have it turn into a big farewell tour for him every single week. …
“I don’t think Tom wants this to be a deal where he says this is my last year, and I think he knows it’s kind of just going to be like that (if he says something before the season). He doesn’t ever have to say it, we don’t ever have to formally do the Coach K thing every game or the Dwyane Wade thing every game.”
This does actually line up when you think back to his apparent aversion to having a huge dog and pony show in Week 4 last season when he played against the Patriots in New England. At the end of the day, Brady, for all the side ventures and whatnot, does have an impressive ability to dial into football and football only when needed. Having to deal with ceremonies that he has to be a part of in every road game could create a headache.
So, if this is the case as Darlington suggests, then the timing of Brady’s eventual retirement likely will go down similarly to the way it did this winter – except, you know, he’ll actually stay retired.
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