ESPN NFL reporter Adam Schefter isn’t backing down from his report Saturday afternoon indicating that Tom Brady will retire from football.
Schefter, who was the first to share the story with fellow ESPN reporter Jeff Darlington, has yet to have his report confirmed by Brady or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In fact, Brady’s father, Tom Brady Sr., has come out and said the report is “total conjecture” while Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians said the 44-year-old quarterback told the organization he isn’t close to coming up with his decision yet.
Schefter since appeared on ESPN during the network’s college basketball coverage on Saturday night where he shared the latest on the situation.
“Well, Reece (Davis) let’s bring you up to speed with the very latest here. Tom Brady is planning to retire and now his family has denied he’s retiring and his agent has said that only Tom Brady can speak to the accuracy of a story like this and when or not he’s going to announce his retirement. So there’s nothing official from Tom Brady.
“They’ve been trying to figure out the time on this and he hasn’t communicated it yet to the Buccaneers. His agent said that Tom knows the realities of the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody. So that, in the words of Don Yee, Tom Brady’s agent, quote on quote, ‘should be soon.’ And that will be the case that he’ll wind up retiring, transitioning on to the next chapter of his career despite the fact everybody has denied it at this point in time.”
ESPN’s Reece Davis then asked a follow up regarding if Schefter sticks by his reporting despite the fact the Brady camp has yet to confirm it.
“That’s correct, Reece,” Schefter said rather simply.
It’s worth noting that, despite the speculation caused by other reporters linked to the Buccaneers, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport also acknowledged that he believes the end result will be a Brady retirement.
