Magical Brady has nothing left to prove
No reason for GOAT to play another season
Will the second Tom Brady retirement be the charm? Let’s hope so. While watching the GOAT still provided a thrill, not to mention constant amazement given how good he looked throwing a football at age 45, it’s time.
For 23 seasons, Brady defied the odds. He managed to stay a step ahead of Father Time. But it was closing in, and Brady never wanted to stick around and leave after his skills had totally faded. He didn’t want to stumble at the finish line.
His famous line was: “When I suck, I’ll retire.”
While he didn’t suck this year, he’s getting out just in time, because the cracks were starting to show here and there. He had flashes of greatness, as opposed to constant greatness, which was his trademark.
“Every year I just have to make sure that I have the ability to commit to what the team really needs. And that’s really important to me,” Brady told Jim Gray during a Siriusxm NFL podcast a year ago after he retired the first time. “The team doesn’t deserve anything less than my best. And if I feel like I’m not committed to that, or I can’t play at a championship level, then you gotta give someone else a chance to play.”
He might not have been “championship level,” but he was still Tampa Bay’s best player this season, setting an NFL record for most attempts (733) and most completions (490) in a season. But even with that, it didn’t translate to much as the Bucs only averaged a little over 18.0 points per game, among the worst in the league.
He could still play, and could still win in the right circumstances with a great team around him, but finding that cir
cumstance and squeezing out another year or more wasn’t worth it.
Being a free agent, playing for Miami might have been appealing, given that’s where his kids are with former wife Gisele Bundchen. But the Dolphins said they didn’t want him.
So then what, head to Las Vegas or San Francisco for one last kick at the can? And that’s if either of those teams wanted a soon-to-be 46-year-old quarterback?
He could have returned to Tampa, but what was the point? Brady has nothing more to prove. He’s already proved it, and then some.
Even people in his camp reached by the Herald shortly after Brady’s early morning video announcement believe it’s the right time.
And an emotional Brady