Tom Brady claims he’s now a cat dad who couldn’t possibly have the time to plot an NFL comeback.
But few are buying it.
This week, there’s been a building drumbeat of murmurs regarding Brady coming back and playing out his age-46 season. On Monday, NFL Media’s Rich Eisen said on his radio show that Brady returning for the 2023 campaign was the top rumor he heard at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. “The one place that folks are saying to keep an eye out for is Miami,” he said.
While the Dolphins publicly committed to Tua Tagovailoa earlier this offseason, there are questions about his health following a spate of head injuries he suffered last season. An NFL investigation unveiled the Dolphins tampered with Brady numerous times from 2019-22, including when he was still under contract with the Patriots.
But would Brady — who said in his retirement video he was hanging them up “for good” this time — really go back on his word for the second straight year? On WEEI’s “Jones & Mego” Thursday, Tom Curran, who’s covered Brady closely for years, didn’t completely discount the possibility.
“It goes back to the idea of, ‘I’ll quit when I suck.’ Did he suck this year? No,” he said. “He led the league in yards, he led the league in attempts. He’s still got plenty in the arm, and even at 46, or 47, I don’t see it going away, nor do I see his enjoyment of competition going away.”
Still, with Brady just beginning to build his post-football life, it seems unlikely he would suddenly change his mind and play this upcoming season. But that doesn’t mean he couldn’t play in 2024.
We know Brady, as head of the TB12 fitness empire, will probably stay in playing shape. Maybe that will be the Dolphins’ chance to swoop in, especially if Brady maintains a residence in South Florida (Brady is currently building a $17 million mansion in Miami’s “Billionaire Bunker”).
“I really believe, while there might be a lot of teams that go, ‘a 47 year old, no thank you,’ I think if Brady’s life is in order in a way that he is comfortable with, and say for instance — for the sake of argument — the Miami Dolphons don’t pick up and extend Tua Tagovailoa, pick up his fifth-year option. Then he’s a free agent next year in Miami, and Miami could be looking for a quarterback,” said Curran. “If Tom Brady has roots there, it would probably be an easier move for him after a year off than it might be now where it would look like the same Hamlet act of, ‘Do I want to quit? Do I not want to quit? Here I come. I come back.’ I think next year, I would put it at higher than 5 percent likelihood it would be amenable to him then.”
In other words, Curran is saying there’s a chance …
