The greatest NFL player of all time is calling it a career.
Tom Brady is retiring after 22 years in the NFL, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Saturday.
ESPN first reported the news.
The 44-year-old walks away after the most prolific career in football history.
Brady was famously selected in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft, 199th overall by the New England Patriots. Sporting an unparalleled competitive drive, the QB used that draft status to fuel his Hall of Fame career.
Brady took over as the full-time starter in New England during his second NFL season, and the rest, as they say, is history.
TB12 walks away with a trophy case overflowing with awards.
Brady ends his career as a seven-time Super Bowl champion, three-time NFL MVP, five-time Super Bowl MVP, two-time NFL Offensive Player of the Year, three-time first-team All-Pro honoree, three-time second-team All-Pro, 15-time Pro Bowler, and 2009 Comeback Player of the Year winner. He was named to the NFL’s 2000s All-Decade Team, the 2010s All-Decade Team, and the NFL’s 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.
It might be easier to list the quarterbacking records Brady doesn’t own at this point.
Tom Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl champion who is one of two quarterbacks to lead two teams to championships, is apparently retiring after 22 seasons in the NFL, ESPN reported.
The 44-year-old Brady’s company, TB12 Sports, and ex-teammate Julian Edelman appeared to confirm Brady’s decision in separate tweets.
ESPN first reported Brady’s decision to call it quits days, after his second season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ended in an NFC divisional-round loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
After the loss, the quarterback was immediately met with questions about his future and decided to walk away from the game.
The superstar quarterback retires as the league’s all-time leader in passing yards (84,520), touchdown passes (624), completions (7,263) and attempts (11,317). He finished second in fourth quarter comebacks with (42), one behind one of his fiercest rivals, Peyton Manning.
Brady’s accolades are astounding.
Tom Brady of the New England Patriots celebrates after the Patriots defeat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in Super Bowl 51 at NRG Stadium Feb. 5, 2017, in Houston. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Not only does Brady have more Super Bowl rings than every other team in the NFL, but he was also a five-time Super Bowl MVP. He added 15 Pro Bowl appearances, three All-Pro selections, three MVP awards, and he was named to the Hall of Fame All-Decade Team for the 2000s and 2010s.
The New England Patriots selected Brady, a scrawny quarterback out of Michigan, with the No. 199 pick of the 2000 NFL Draft. He joined a team that already had a quarterback who had led the Patriots to a Super Bowl in Drew Bledsoe.
When Bledsoe got injured during the 2001 season, it was Brady who replaced him, and he immediately was thrust into the spotlight. Brady helped lead the Patriots to a Super Bowl title that year, bouncing Bledsoe from the mantle and starting his ascension to stardom.
Brady, along with Patriots coach Bill Belichick, helped build the Patriots into the dynasty it became. The quarterback only missed one season due to injury during his reign in New England — the 2008 campaign during which he tore his ACL.
Missing the 2008 regular season followed the Patriots’ failure to complete an undefeated season the previous year. While it seemed at the time Brady’s career was hitting a downturn, he would only get better.
After that Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants in 2011, the Patriots made four more appearances, winning three more titles. Brady won the league MVP award at age 40 after the 2017 season. He led the league with 4,577 passing yards and had 32 touchdown passes that season. It marked the fourth straight year he had thrown fewer than 10 interceptions.
Quarterback Tom Brady of the New England Patriots walks on the field during Super Bowl XXXVIII against the Carolina Panthers at Reliant Stadium on February 1, 2004, in Houston. The Patriots defeated the Panthers 32-29. (Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Brady’s run with the Patriots wasn’t always filled with parades, glitz, and glamour. He was the subject of an NFL investigation after he was accused of directing team personnel to deflate footballs during the 2014 AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts.
The case went to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Brady was suspended for four games, and the circuit court eventually upheld the suspension after it was initially overturned by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Brady and the Pats won the 2015 Super Bowl despite the investigation and discipline.
Brady’s relationship with Belichick was also under a microscope during their final years together. Multiple reports during Brady’s final seasons with the Patriots suggested friction between the two. The issue appeared to stem from Belichick preparing for a future without Brady and the quarterback insisting he still had more fuel in the tank.
It all culminated in a loss to the Tennessee Titans during the 2019 AFC playoffs and Brady’s departure.
Brady signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and brought former Pats tight end, Rob Gronkowski, with him. The team later added receiver Antonio Brown. Each player had a hand in the Bucs 2021 Super Bowl win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
Brady and the Bucs failed in their attempt to repeat this season.
Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady (12) of the Buccaneers holds the Lombardi Trophy surrounded by his kids Benjamin Brady, John Edward Thomas Moynahan, and Vivian Lake Brady after the Super Bowl LV game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Feb. 7, 2021, at Raymond James Stadium, in Tampa, Fla. (Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Brady had one of his best statistical seasons ever in 2021. He finished with a career-high 5,316 passing yards to go with 43 touchdown passes. It was the first time in his career he threw 40 or more touchdown passes in consecutive seasons. It was only the third time he threw 40 or more passes in a single season.
While his decision to retire was approaching, it was unclear when it would happen. Brady often answered questions about retirement saying he might play into his 50s.
“I’ll know when the time’s right. If I can’t … if I’m not a championship-level quarterback, then I’m not gonna play. If I’m a liability to the team, I mean, no way. But if I think I can win a championship, then I’ll play,” he told NFL reporter Peter King in August.
Brady said during a podcast interview in May he would consider playing until he was 50 years old.
“I have a lot to give. I think there’s a lot of time and energy still focused on being a great quarterback, that when that’s done — although I’m a little fearful of it ending — I am open to the belief that there will be a lot of opportunities for me to do things that I haven’t had a chance to do, that I really think I can help a lot of people,” he said on Hodinkee Radio.
Before a regular-season victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in October, Brady told Andrea Kremer and Hannah Storm he could play well into his 50s.
“I really think I can play as long as I want,” he told them. “I could literally play until I’m 50 or 55 if I wanted to do. I don’t think I will obviously … my physical body won’t be the problem. I think it’ll just be, I’m just missing too much of life with my family.”
Tom Brady of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throws a pass against the Philadelphia Eagles in the first half of the NFC wild-card playoff at Raymond James Stadium Jan. 16, 2022, in Tampa, Fla. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Brady and Gronkowski answered the internet’s burning questions in a taped segment for the team in September too. Both players were wearing reflective sunglasses and Brady was in a bucket hat.
“Can Tom Brady play until 50 years old?” Gronkowski asked.
“Wow, seems to be a really hot question lately,” Brady said. “’ Can Tom Brady play till 50?’ Like, 50 years old. I don’t find it so difficult, and plus living in Florida it’s kind of a retiree state. I feel like I can just play and glide into retirement. I think I can, I think it’s a yes.”
He made clear after the season that his decision would come down to what would be best for him and his family, noting that his wife Gisele Bundchen would always have a lot of input in his decision.
“It pains her to see me get hit out there. And she deserves what she needs from me as a husband, and my kids deserve what they need from me as a dad,” Brady said on the “Let’s Go!” podcast.
“And I’m gonna spend some time with them and give them what they need because they’ve really been giving me what I need the last six months to do what I love to do. 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.”
Brady admitted that he doesn’t need a farewell tour because it would be “distracting” for him.
Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Camp: Notes on Fashion” exhibition on May 6, 2019, in New York. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
“I’m really an ultimate — my enjoyment comes from not a recognition of the kind of what I’ve accomplished as a player in the league,” Brady said. “My enjoyment comes from the competition more so than anything. Even yesterday, I was thinking about competing. I was thinking about this whole year, about competing. I wasn’t thinking about anything other than that.
“So when the time comes to think about post-career and second career, I’ll think about those things. It’s just when you’re 44, I guess you get asked about that a lot. And a lot of people thought I was done playing football in 2015. A lot of people in 2016 said, ‘You’re done.’ A lot of people in 2018, and when I left the Patriots, they said, ‘You’re done.’”
It appears Brady could be satisfied with what’s to come next – countless tribute videos, his jersey retired in both the Patriots and Buccaneers’ organizations, and finally the gold jacket and his bust at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.
Love him or hate him, fans got to see what anyone would love to watch for more than two decades: a winning quarterback always at the top of his game putting together what seemed like two careers in one, winning championship after championship and keeping his teams in contention for a title year in and year out.
There may be flashier quarterbacks with bigger arms and faster legs who come and go in the league, but the consistency and the number of championships he brought to his teams may never be matched
When Kobe Bryant‘s death shocked the world on January 26, 2020, it moved Tom Brady to join many other sports stars in sharing a tribute to the 20-year Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard.
Two years later Brady cited Bryant’s short life as a reason to consider calling it a career after 22 seasons in the NFL. Brady retirement rumors skyrocketed amid the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ 30-27 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, January 23. Brady, 44, acknowledged during Monday’s “Let’s Go!” podcast that he will take time to consider his future — with family being the main consideration rumors
“We never know what’s going to happen in the future, we really don’t,” Brady told host Jim Gray.
In Bryant’s case, the 41-year-old former NBA superstar was flying in a helicopter with his daughter, Gianna, 13, and seven other people when the fatal crash occurred in Calabasas, California. Bryant, who coached his daughter’s basketball team, was flying with another team member, her parents, and another coach to the team’s game that day.
“I mean, Kobe Bryant, a friend of ours, God rest his soul,” Brady told Gray. “You think you’re going to live forever, we’re not. We think we’re going to play forever, we’re not. What can we do? We can enjoy the moments that we have. As difficult as it was to lose the game (Sunday), I was glad I played in it, and I was glad I was a part of it.”
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Family a Growing Consideration for Brady
Brady indicated several times over the past year that he wants to enjoy more moments with his family. He again expressed that to Gray during the podcast.
“As I’ve gotten older, I think the best part is, football is extremely important in my life, and it means a lot to me,” Brady told Gray. “And the biggest difference now that I’m older is, I have kids now, too, and I care about them a lot as well.
“They’ve been my biggest supporters, my wife is my biggest supporter,” Brady added. “It pains her to see me get hit out there, and she deserves what she needs from me as a husband, my kids deserve what they need from me as a dad.”
Brady: ‘Seize the Day’
Brady shared on Twitter in 2020 how the death of Bryant and the helicopter crash victims “deeply affected” him. The Bucs quarterback also saw a void left by Bryant that needed to be carried on.
“That’s what we will all miss. That’s why we hurt,” Brady wrote. “Because we know that he was always fighting against the norm. He was doing more than his share.”
“Now who is going to do the work that is still here to be done? Who is going to fight and break the norms with love and joy and inspiration? Who is going to discard fear, and doubt, and hate? Who is going to carry the load and be the superhero that he was? The answer is simple to me, all of us,” Brady added.
“Decide to make the change in yourself. If there is anything I have learned and been inspired by through this tragic event, it is this, seize the day. That’s what Kobe always did, and that’s what he wanted for us too,” Brad wrote.
For now, Brady will evaluate what “seize the day” will look like for him in 2022.