Tom Brady’s Hall of Fame career has finally come to an end — for real this time.
After the weird retirement cycle that he went through last year, one that didn’t seem like a fitting end for a player like Brady, he has taken matters into his own hands this offseason. With speculation running rampant about a return for one more season, Brady set the record straight by posting a simple message on his social media accounts that announced he was hanging it up for good.
Brady posted a video on Wednesday morning making the announcement that he would be walking away from football.
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Rather than drag the announcement out, or turn it into a huge ordeal, Brady was stoic. He acknowledged how messy last year’s retirement saga was and noted that he wanted to avoid another circus.
“I’ll get straight to the point, I’m retiring. For good,” Brady said. “I know the process was a big deal last time, so when I woke up this morning I figured I’d just press record and let you guys know first.”
Here’s the rest of the announcement:
Video of Tom Brady making the news official: “I’m retiring. For good.”pic.twitter.com/oEPV3smYrH https://t.co/Rt37oFP7Jh
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) February 1, 2023
The next question is obvious: Is Tom Brady really retiring from the NFL?
We did this song and dance last year when Brady retired, but he went back on that a month later when he announced he would be returning for one more season. At the time it was believed that Brady was motivated to come back so he could retire the way he wanted to, and not be beaten to his own punch by Adam Schefter — which is what caused the whole circus in the first place.
Schefter announced Brady’s retirement before the man himself could, which not only seemed to be a motivating factor for Brady to return but put a sour note on the whole event.
In the days leading up to Brady unretiring, Mike Florio from PFT noted that the retirement was from the Buccaneers and not the NFL. That came on the heels of reports that Brady wanted to team up with Sean Payton in Miami and finish his career with the Dolphins.
That didn’t happen, and while his final season with the Buccaneers didn’t go the way anyone thought it would, Brady’s retirement seems to be official this time.