No one knows whether Tom Brady is truly retired from football. Including Brady himself.
On Thursday, he had a chance to provide a little clarity to the situation. He didn’t.
Speaking at eMerge Americas on Thursday at the Miami Beach Convention Center, Brady was asked a simple and direct question: “Is there any chance you’re coming out of retirement and playing for the Fins?”
The options in response were simple: (A) yes; (B) no; (C) I don’t know; or (D) a filibustering non-answer.
Brady went with Option D.
“I will say now that I’m not affiliated with any team anymore, even though I have strong ties with a couple teams, I do have some friends on the Dolphins that I really like,” Brady said. “So, I wouldn’t say I necessarily root for them all the time, but I root for my friends to do well, and several of them play for Miami.”
Brady playing for the Dolphins isn’t some crazy, harebrained nothing. Last year, the Dolphins had a multi-step plan for landing him. First, he retires from the Buccaneers. Next, he becomes a minority owner with the Dolphins, and possibly an executive. Then, during the offseason program, he unretires and the Buccaneers and Dolphins work out a deal that allows him to play for Miami.
The plan also included the Dolphins acquiring the ability to hire former Saints coach Sean Payton. Thus, when former Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed a landmark race discrimination lawsuit, the Brady-Payton plan was derailed. And when the NFL investigated a claim from Flores that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross had offered $100,000 per loss in 2019, the league tripped over the evidence of blatant tampering, stripping the Dolphins of their 2023 first-round pick.
We mentioned the possibility of Brady still landing in Miami in January, before he retired for the second straight year. It remains a possibility, even though the Dolphins have exercised Tua Tagovailoa’s option for 2024.
Even if it doesn’t happen before the season happens, it could become an in-season bat signal situation if Tua continues to have concussion issues, due to his helmet striking the turf when he is knocked or thrown to the ground.
Regardless, it’s impossible to rule out anything with Brady. He may have completely believed he was finished with football when he retired a second time. And he may feel very differently when he realizes that the football train is going to leave the station without him, and without a second thought, when September rolls around.