It was only two weeks ago when Tom Brady seemed on track to accomplish his long-stated goal of playing until he’s 45. He signed a two-year extension with the Buccaneers last offseason and led the NFL in touchdowns and passing yards this season. For four months, there was nary any speculation about him calling it quits.
Then Seth Wickersham predicted Brady would retire at the end of Tampa Bay’s playoff run, and reports started trickling in about Brady’s apparent undecided state of mind. Brady lent credence to those rumors on multiple occasions, telling reporters himself he was noncommittal about his playing future.
What happened?
For years, Brady has talked about his desire to spend more time with family, and the strain his football career was having on his marriage. When the Bucs won the Super Bowl last year, Gisele famously asked her husband what more he had to prove.
But yet, Brady came back, just like always. The pull of his family was always there.
It seems as if the circumstances changed in Tampa Bay.
The Buccaneers will likely lose the bulk of their core to free agency. Chris Godwin, Rob Gronkowski, Leonard Fournette, Ronald Jones, Giovani Bernard, center Ryan Jensen, Ndamukong Suh and Jason Pierre-Paul are all free agents, and the Bucs can’t re-sign them all. But Brady isn’t naive to the business of football. After being around for 22 years — and spending 20 of them with Bill Belichick — he almost certainly knows it isn’t possible for teams to bring back the same veteran stars three years in a row. Brady was aware of his running mates’ contracts when he inked his new deal last March.
That stayed the same. Again, something changed.
It was a tough end of the season for the Bucs. Antonio Brown quit the team mid-game, stripping off his uniform and exiting MetLife Stadium in dramatic fashion. Brown said Bruce Arians was trying to force him to play through injury, which resulted in an ugly back-and-forth between the two parties that even Brady couldn't escape. Brown ripped Brady in a podcast over his incentive-laden contract and Brady’s role as the de-facto GM.
A couple of weeks later, Arians hit safety Andrew Adams in the head following Tampa Bay’s Wild Card win over the Eagles. Arians was fined $50,000 for the infraction.
Then came the Divisional Round loss to the Rams. Brady led the Bucs back from 27-3, only to see the Rams march down the field in 42 seconds and kick the game-winning field goal. That had to hurt, and maybe shattered Brady’s confidence in the whole operation.
We’ve heard a couple of times in recent days about how Brady missed Belichick’s attention to detail. Mike Lombardi said the loss to Los Angeles probably made Brady fondly remember those Friday meetings, when Belichick would list the players his defense had to shut down to win. There’s no doubt Cooper Kupp, who caught the 46-yard pass that set up the Rams’ field goal, would’ve been on Belichick’s list.
Wickersham also alluded to the Belichick void in his most recent Brady feature story, which was published Saturday, the same day as his faux retirement. “Brady is a process guy, and as much as he liked his coaches personally, Tampa Bay wasn't as buttoned-up as Belichick's Patriots, and that was evident at the end of the Rams game,” Wickersham writes.
Somewhere along the line, maybe Brady realized he didn’t want to play his age-45 season on a rebuilding team with a head coach whom he doesn’t trust. Byron Leftwich, his offensive coordinator, is taking interviews elsewhere as well.
But if Brady knew last week he didn’t want to return to Tampa Bay, he seemingly hadn’t made a final decision about his retirement. Perhaps he tried for one more Hail Mary, and asked the Buccaneers if they would let him out of his contract.
Obviously, that did not happen.
The official Brady ™ narrative will be all about his wife and kids. He’s ruminated in multiple docuseries about his shifting responsibilities. But in the next breath, he would talk about playing into his mid-40s, or only retiring when he sucked.
Brady is in no danger of sucking, but the same can’t be said for his team. He always said his favorite ring was the next one.
Maybe he retired when he realized there wouldn’t be another one.
