Tom Brady Retires...Again

By: Garret Kryzanowski

For the second time in less than a year Tom Brady, who many people consider to be the G.O.A.T, has retired from the NFL.

Now, Tom Brady has said that this time on a video released on his Twitter account that he is retiring for good. If that is the case then we have seen the last of the seven time Super Bowl champion and I personally believe that it was time.

Now I am one of the biggest Tom Brady haters there is, however, I do personally believe he is the greatest quarterback of all time and the greatest winner of all time, winning six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and one Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Unfortunately watching this last season was incredibly painful. Tom Brady wasn't himself and it was obvious. It wasn't like watching Peyton Manning in the 2015-16 season or Drew Brees in the 2020-21 season when they had absolutely no arm strength and it was sad to watch. With Tom Brady the arm talent was still there, I mean he threw for 4694 yards which was good for third in the league in passing yards and 25 touchdown passes. These are numbers any team would love their starting quarterback to put up, but numbers weren't the issue this past season.

Off the field distractions, and obvious communication issues plagued Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this past season and for the the first time in his 23 seasons he didn't looked focused.

I don't blame Brady for being affected by the off field issues. After Brady announced he was coming back for his 23rd season it was reported that it had caused him and his wife at the time supermodel Gisele Bündchen too grow apart. It was merely speculation from the media but then Tom Brady took time off from the Buccaneers for 11 days during training camp. This was unheard of for Tom Brady, but he was Tom Brady so he was granted the time off. That time off wasn't enough and eventually on October 28, 2022 Brady and Bündchen announced that they had finalized their divorce. Now, I am not trying to attack Brady or highlight his personal issues but rather explain that his head wasn't truly focused on football and if anyone has ever been an athlete you know that playing the sport at an elite level requires 100 percent focus. It was evident that his focus wasn't completely there and his play and the play of the Buccaneers was proof.

The 2022-23 season was full of ups and downs as after a 2-0 start to the season the Buccaneers found themselves with a 3-5 record right before the announcement of the Bradys divorce. Watching the Buccaneers play was almost surreal in the sense that no one had ever seen Brady not on the same page as his teammates. To make matters worse he seemed most out of sync with his favourite target, four time pro bowl wide receiver Mike Evans. Brady and Evans were constantly on different pages, when Brady would want him to run a streak down the sideline Evans would break off a 18 yard comeback, or Brady would want Evans to run a hitch route and sit in the zone and Evans would continue on a dig route. This is important as most NFL play calls have option routes for there best players but they require immense communication and players to be on the same page and they weren't. Brady was under throwing and overthrowing receivers, making the wrong reads on RPO's (run pass options) and for the first time since Brady's first season as a starter in 2001 he had to take some, but not all of the blame for his teams issues and mistakes.

Thankfully for Tom Brady and Buccaneers fans the team was able to take advantage of playing in the worst division in the NFL and were able to not only make the playoffs with a bismal 8-9 record but because they won the division got to host a home playoff game at Raymond James Stadium against the 12-5 Dallas Cowboys.

Heading into the playoff game fans were incredibly confident that Brady and the Buccaneers would win for simple fact, Brady was 7-0 in his career and this game wouldn't be any different. Sadly, it was very different as Brady threw a red zone interception and even though he had 351 pass yards and two passing touchdowns the Buccaneers lost 31-14. Make no mistake, Brady did not play well at all and those touchdowns came when the game was already out of hand and in what was his last NFL game Tom Brady once again did not look like the quarterback we've all watched the past 20 plus years.

Just for the sake of giving Tom Brady his flowers I will let everyone know his career highlights, starting with the most Super Bowl wins ever, with 7 and a record five Super Bowl MVPs. Brady also threw for 89,214 yards and 649 touchdown passes in the regular season, both NFL records. He has been to 15 Pro Bowls and won three NFL league MVPs. He truly is the greatest of all time at the quarterback position and is the greatest winner of all time in the NFL. I don't think any quarterback will ever compare to Tom Brady in the aspect of winning. Sure his passing records may be broke one day, probably by Patrick Mahomes but no one will ever dominate as much as Brady did for as long as Brady did.

Tom Brady's longevity has been remarkable and I have no doubts in my mind he could still be a very good NFL quarterback but I truly do think it's time to retire and move on. Not to mention he has his $375 million dollar contract spanning over 10 years with FOX to commentate football games, already making him the highest paid sports broadcaster of all time. With that much money and the ability to stay close to the game he loves I do believe he won't be unretiring again and we will all be watching him every Sunday on FOX for at least the next 10 years.

This past season doesn't discredit anything that Tom Brady has done in the past. Even for the people who hate Tom Brady, myself included, were all incredibly lucky to have watched him in his prime. Whether you loved to root for him or against him, the NFL won't ever be the same.