Tom Brady said on Monday’s “Let’s Go!” podcast that while he has no plans to come out of retirement at some point, “you never say never.”
“I’m just gonna take things as they come,” Brady said when asked if he could consider returning to the NFL, via NFL.com. “I think that’s the best way to put it and I don’t think anything, you know, you never say never. At the same time I know that I’m very, I feel very good about my decision. I don’t know how I’ll feel six months from now.
“I try to make the best possible decision I can in the moment, which I did this last week. And, again, I think it’s not looking to reverse course, I’m definitely not looking to do that. But in the same time I think you have to be realistic that you never know what challenges there are gonna be in life. Again, I loved playing. I’m looking forward to doing things other than playing. That’s as honest as I can be.”
Brady explained that the decision to move on from his NFL career wasn’t so much inability to devote himself to the game, but more what he was missing in terms of his li
“I think the choice is, everything certainly comes at a cost, and the cost is what am I missing out on other aspects of my life?,” Brady said. “And things that are, as you get older, you experience things that are outside of the sport that demand the level of attention and energy that football has always gotten. And it’s time for me to commit to those types of things. A lot of things have come up over the years in the last 10 years of my life as I’ve got closer to this decision this last week and it just in the end felt like it was just the right time to do it. I think for anyone who loves the sport like I have over the years it’ll always be in my heart, as it should be, because I’ve committed a lot of time and energy and hours to it. But at the same time, there’s a time and place for everything. I’ve had an amazing time and place doing it and I’m just, I am really excited for what’s ahead and I don’t know what that means or where it takes me, but I know that it’ll be fun and exciting and I’m gonna make the most of whatever opportunities present themselves as I go forward.”
“I was fortunate to do it for a long time, for 22 years,” Brady added. “I did it at the highest level and I had the best teammates and mentors and coaches and friends. And, again, it’s just pretty simple, it’s just there’s time for other things, I need to make time for other things in my life. And it’s exciting for me to be able to really enjoy some of those new moments as well.”
Brady, 44, is a former sixth-round pick of the Patriots back in 2000. He was in the final year of his two-year, $41 million contract when he agreed to another two-year extension in 2017.
Brady made $23 million for the 2019 season and was testing the open market as an unrestricted free agent in 2020 when he agreed to a fully guaranteed two-year, $50 million deal with the Buccaneers.
For his career, Brady threw for 84,250 yards, 624 touchdowns, 203 interceptions while completing 64.2 percent of his passes. He was a seven-time Super Bowl champion, a five-time Super Bowl MVP, a three-time MVP, 15-time Pro Bowler and made six All-Pro teams in his career.
Brady is the all-time leader in touchdown passes and yards.
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