Tom Brady has a football obsession, which is why many believed he'd return for a 24th NFL season in 2023. But it appears his fire has finally burned out.
The 45-year-old quarterback announced his NFL retirement last week, insisting he's done "for good" this time after ending his initial retirement after just 40 days in February 2022.
If you ask Brady's father, we should believe TB12 when he says he's not coming back. In a conversation with Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, Tom Brady Sr. noted that his son would always begin his offseason training immediately after his previous season ended. But after Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell to the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Wild Card Round, Brady Sr. noticed that Brady Jr. took a different approach.
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"There’s no training or no plans on training anymore," Brady Sr. told Breer. "So I think, in his own mind, he’s got a full commitment to taking care of his kids this year."
Brady Sr. admitted the past year took a toll on his son both on and off the field after Brady Jr. and his wife of 13 years, Gisele Bundchen, divorced in October. Brady also was sacked 22 times last year behind a patchwork Bucs offensive line, and his father suggested that the seven-time Super Bowl champion may have finally grown tired of taking punishment in the pocket.
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"He once said this, he said, 'I'm getting tired of getting hit,'" Brady Sr. told ESPN's Mike Greenberg in a separate interview. "Having played 23 years and he holds the ignominious record of most sacks against in the NFL ... and there must be another two or three thousand knockdowns.
"At 45 years of age, you say, 'Hey, do I want to get hit one more time?' The answer's really nah, I really don't want to unless everything's (clicking). Unfortunately, it wasn't clicking this year, and I think it was a foregone conclusion."
Brady is two seasons removed from leading the NFL in passing yards and three seasons removed from winning a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay, so he'd be a very capable quarterback in 2023 if he decided to return. The 2022 season was a slog, however, as the Bucs averaged just 18.4 points per game with the worst rushing offense in the NFL.
That disappointing campaign combined with another year of Brady absorbing hits and his understandable desire to spend more time with his children appeared to culminate with the NFL's oldest player finally calling it quits after 23 seasons.
Brady already has his next job lined up, too -- he signed a 10-year, $375 million contract with FOX Sports to be their lead NFL analyst after his on-field retirement -- so we can understand why he decided it was time to hang them up.