Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady’s long and impressive playing career has come to an end.
ESPN reports that Brady is retiring from the NFL after 22 years. The word comes shortly after a report from CBS Sports that Brady would likely be making an announcement about his plans for the future soon and it came shortly before TB12 Sports posted a farewell message.
Brady said many times this season that he planned to play at least one more year in the NFL, but speculation that he’d hang up the cleats picked up steam before last Sunday’s divisional round loss to the Rams. In a recent interview, Brady said he had no interest in a farewell tour and that pointed to a retirement announcement because a return for another season would have wound up being exactly that.
Brady wasn’t able to add an eighth Super Bowl title this year, but he went out at the top of his game. Brady set a career high with 5,316 passing yards and led the league with 43 touchdown passes while helping the Bucs to a division title. The three-time NFL MVP is the NFL’s all-time leader in completions, passing yards, and passing touchdowns and he’s won five Super Bowl MVPs to go with every postseason record a quarterback could hope to achieve.
Brady will add a Hall of Fame jacket and many other accolades to that long list of accomplishments as he’s set the standard for all quarterbacks who will follow in his footsteps.