Tom Brady’s first interview since officially retiring from playing football has caused some to wonder whether he’ll be playing football again in 2023.
His failure to unequivocally slam the door on returning to the field, coupled with his disclosure that he’ll join Fox’s broadcast booth in 2024, have become the two biggest facts prompting some to wonder whether he’ll play at some point next season.
It makes sense to keep an eye open. Even if he currently believes he’s done playing football, he may not feel that way when the time comes for another football season to start, without him. The national pigskin train will be rolling whether Brady is on it or not, and once he’s staring at that reality, he may feel differently.
The only thing we know at this point is that Brady won’t be sliding into a broadcast booth until 2024. Even then, it’s unclear what he’ll be doing for Fox -- other than collecting big checks for doing it. We assume that he’ll become the No. 1 analyst, supplanting the much-acclaimed Greg Olsen. For now, though, who knows what the future will hold?
A year ago, we thought Brady was done. It later became clear he was hoping to finagle a path to the Dolphins. Once that didn’t happen, he chose playing over not playing.
At some point later this year, he’ll potentially have opportunities to choose playing over not playing. He may choose not playing, over and over again. If he only chooses playing once, at some point between now and the end of the 2023 season, he’ll be back.
As the future unfolds for Brady and the rest of us, remember this -- the Buccaneers need him to sign a dummy contract for 2023, in order to chop down his $35.1 million dead cap charge. Once he does that, he becomes the exclusive contractual property of the Bucs. If/when he wants to play for someone else, he’d have to deal with that complication.
