Tom Brady has decided to end his legendary NFL career, according to reports Saturday from ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington.
But according to two separate reports, the 44-year-old has yet to inform his team he’s retiring.
Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times and Greg Auman of The Athletic both reported shortly Saturday afternoon that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were unaware of Brady’s retirement decision.
“Not that we know of,” Bucs head coach Bruce Arians told Stroud. “(Brady’s) agent (Donald Yee) just told us he hasn’t made up his mind.”
Brady has yet to officially announce his retirement on any of his various social media channels. The account for his TB12 Sports brand did send a congratulatory farewell tweet but later deleted it.
Yee released the following statement through Schefter:
“I understand the advance speculation about Tom’s future. Without getting into the accuracy or inaccuracy of what’s being reported, Tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy. He knows the realities of the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody, so that should be soon.”
Brady spent the last two seasons with Tampa Bay, leading the Bucs to the franchise’s second Super Bowl title in 2020. He spent his first 20 seasons with New England, helping turn the Patriots into the most dominant franchise in American professional sports and himself into the greatest quarterback in NFL history. The Patriots won six Super Bowls during Brady’s tenure and played in three others.
Though he long maintained that planned to play until age 45, Saturday’s retirement report came just over six months shy of Brady’s 45th birthday.
Brady retiring would leave Kyle Trask, a 2021 second-round draft pick who did not play a snap as a rookie, as the only Buccaneers quarterback currently under contract for 2022.
