If there’s any coach in the league who knows quarterback Tom Brady, it’s Josh McDaniels.
Now the Raiders head coach, McDaniels spent over a decade calling plays for Brady if you add up his two stints as New England’s offensive coordinator.
So when McDaniels heard Brady was coming out of retirement after just over a month, he said he was “not surprised.”
“Whatever he chooses to do, he deserves the opportunity to choose what he wants to do and how he wants to do it,” McDaniels said at the annual league meeting on Monday. “I just think I see a guy that’s playing at an extremely high level. Super competitive. And at this age, nobody’s really done this before. So to see him playing at that level and walk away, I think all of us would’ve been a little sad on opening day had that been the case.
“But knowing him like I do, how competitive he is, if he can still do it at a high level, if he can still compete to win championships, it doesn’t shock me that he came back.”
At 44, Brady led the league with 5,316 passing yards and 43 touchdowns in 2021. He also set a league record with 485 completions while coming in second all-time with 719 passing attempts last season.
Brady turns 45 on Aug. 3, which will be during his 23rd training camp.
