Tom Brady’s retirement from the NFL lasted a little less than six weeks. The seven-time Super Bowl winner announced Sunday that he will continue playing and will return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the 2022 season.
“These past two months I’ve realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands,” the quarterback wrote on Twitter. “That time will come. But it’s not now. I love my teammates, and I love my supportive family. They make it all possible. I’m coming back for my 23rd season in Tampa. Unfinished business LFG”
Brady, 44, had announced his retirement Feb. 1 after 22 seasons.
These past two months I’ve realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands. That time will come. But it’s not now. I love my teammates, and I love my supportive family. They make it all possible. I’m coming back for my 23rd season in Tampa. Unfinished business LFG pic.twitter.com/U0yhRKVKVm
“This is difficult for me to write, but here it goes: I am not going to make that competitive commitment anymore,” Brady wrote then on social media. “I have loved my NFL career, and now it is time to focus my time and energy on other things that require my attention.”
Brady’s retirement announcement had come amid confusion, and within days he began to waver on his decision to walk away from the NFL. Less than a week after retiring, Brady said on his podcast “you never say never” about a potential return to playing.
The speculation about a prospective return intensified this weekend after Brady posted photos and a video to social media Saturday of him attending Manchester United’s soccer match with his family. The video showed Brady hesitating and giving a non-definitive answer, accompanied by a quizzical look, when soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo asked him if he actually was done playing.
Manchester United is owned by the Glazer family, which also owns the Buccaneers.
Cristiano Ronaldo: “You’re finished, right?
Tom Brady: 🤔 pic.twitter.com/QGwX9ad6pJ
“Tom Brady loves to play football as much as anyone I have ever been around,” Coach Bruce Arians said in a statement released Sunday night by the Buccaneers. “As Tom said, his place right now is on the football field. He is still playing at a championship level and was as productive as anyone in the league last season. We are ecstatic that he decided to continue playing and working toward winning another championship.”
Brady remains under contract to the Buccaneers for the 2022 season. The deal probably needs to be reworked; it includes a base salary of $8.925 million and a $15 million deferred bonus payment that would have been due last month if he hadn’t retired. He will be in his third season with the Buccaneers after 20 seasons — and six Super Bowl triumphs — with the New England Patriots.
“We are thrilled that Tom has decided to come back this season,” Buccaneers General Manager Jason Licht said in a statement. “We said we would leave all options open for him should he reconsider his retirement and today’s announcement is something we have been preparing for in recent days.”
Licht said he and Arians had “plenty of conversations with Tom recently that led us to believe there was a realistic chance he would want to come back.”
It's all about the next one. #GoBucs pic.twitter.com/ufAq4w2a4O
The Buccaneers had not replaced Brady as their starter at quarterback.
“He’s baaackkkk,” the team wrote Sunday on its Twitter account, soon after Brady’s announcement.
Brady led the NFL in passing attempts, completions, passing yards and touchdown passes last season. The Buccaneers went 13-4 but lost at home to the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs. They won the Super Bowl in the 2020 season — Brady’s first with the Buccaneers after leaving the Patriots in free agency.
He's baaackkkk 😏 pic.twitter.com/TWvTT4E95E
Brady turns 45 in August. He has often spoken of playing until he is 45 or perhaps beyond, but retirement speculation increased as the Buccaneers’ season neared its conclusion. Three days before his retirement announcement, Brady’s health and wellness company announced he was done playing, then backtracked.
Now Brady has followed the same pattern, announcing his un-return 40 days after announcing his retirement. He had cited family considerations the first time around.
“I’ve done a lot of reflecting the past week and have asked myself difficult questions,” Brady wrote in February. “And I am so proud of what we have achieved. My teammates, coaches, fellow competitors, and fans deserve 100 [percent] of me, but right now, it’s best I leave the field of play to the next generation of dedicated and committed athletes.”
The Buccaneers will have to do a bit of work to keep their team relatively intact around Brady. Tight end Rob Gronkowski and running back Leonard Fournette are among the Buccaneers players eligible for unrestricted free agency. The team used its franchise player tag to keep wide receiver Chris Godwin off the market and agreed late Sunday night to a three-year deal to re-sign center Ryan Jensen ahead of free agency.
“Tom is the greatest quarterback of all time who is still playing at an elite level,” Licht said in Sunday’s statement. “With this decision now made, we will continue to move forward with our offseason plans to reload this roster for another championship run.”
Licht had told NFL Network during the NFL combine that the Buccaneers would “leave the light on” for Brady in case he decided to return. Arians said at the combine of a possible Brady comeback: “That door is never closed. Whenever Tom wants to come back, he’s back.”
The Buccaneers retained Brady’s rights, and Arians said at the combine that it would be “bad business” to allow Brady to play for another team. Arians also said then of the team’s offseason planning, “If Tom wants to come back, we’ll have plenty of money for him.” But Arians said at the combine that Brady was not considering a comeback, based on his conversations with the quarterback to that point.
There already have been prominent moves — and non-moves — among NFL quarterbacks this offseason. Brady retired and then returned. Aaron Rodgers stayed put with the Green Bay Packers. Russell Wilson was traded from the Seattle Seahawks to the Denver Broncos. Carson Wentz was dealt from the Indianapolis Colts to the Washington Commanders.
There is more to come as the free agent market opens Wednesday and trade activity becomes official. The Houston Texans could trade Deshaun Watson, and the San Francisco 49ers could send Jimmy Garoppolo elsewhere.
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