Two days after news broke that he was retiring from the NFL, Tom Brady was not ready to confirm those reports.
The 44-year-old quarterback said Monday on his “Let’s Go!” podcast that he has yet to make a decision on whether he’ll walk away this offseason. When he does decide, Brady said, then he’ll make the announcement.
But could these reports — the first of which came from ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington — actually influence Brady’s plan? Could they motivate him to put off retirement and play another season?
Asked that question by co-host Jim Gray, Brady said most of his motivation comes from within.
“I think my motivation for playing football is to win and be successful,” the QB said. “Maybe there’s little parts of motivation that come from different places or what people may say or think, but I’m mostly motivated from inside and wanting to be the best for my teammates and my coaches and my organization.
“That’s kind of where my motivation’s been for a long time. At different times, you use different techniques and tools to put yourself in the right frame of mind, but for me, it’s just always being the best I could be. That’s how I always want to be for my teammates.”
When will Brady say whether he’s hanging up his cleats or returning for 2022? He wouldn’t put a timetable on it.
“I’m going to take it day by day,” Brady said. “It really is. I’ll take it by the moments and figure out when I feel really confident to allow people to (know). I understand my decision affects a lot of peoples’ lives, so when that decision comes, it’ll come.”
