Ryan Clark isn't ready to close the book on Tom Brady's NFL career.
Brady seemingly retired last month after 22 seasons -- 20 with the New England Patriots and two with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- but it didn't take long for speculation to heat up that the quarterback could wind up returning to the gridiron, either in 2022 or beyond. The 44-year-old has been noncommittal about his future in the weeks since his announcement.
Clark, a former NFL safety, explained Thursday on ESPN that he believes Brady might have second thoughts about hanging up the cleats.
"Tom ain't retired, man," Clark said. "You know what? When he first retired, I was like, 'This is a man who wouldn't say he's retiring if he didn't want to retire. This is a man who has seemed to very sure about everything in his life.' I think Tom doesn't want to retire.
"You know what happens? You get home and your wife is saying, 'Hey, look, I make $88 million a year, we are set, you have made all this money playing football. You don't need to work anymore. We need you home. We want you to not have to eat avocado ice cream. We like cookies and cream. We like the cookie dough. We like the Ben and Jerry's.' And so they want those things. And Gisele's like, 'Hey, Tom, I need you to be here.' The kids are like, 'Hey, Pop, let's go play baseball, let's go throw the ball and pitch it around in the front yard.' And he was like, 'You know what, guys? You're right. Things didn't end well this season. I don't really like the locker room. The temperature there isn't quite right for me. I'm done.' And now he's sat around a little bit, he's looked at a little bit of the film from the year, and he said, 'You know what? I was damn good. I can still really do this.' "
Brady showed no signs of slowing down during the 2021 season, throwing for an NFL-high 5,316 yards with 43 touchdown passes to 12 interceptions. He finished second in MVP voting, behind Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
The Buccaneers ultimately were unsuccessful in their attempt to win back-to-back Super Bowl titles, falling to the eventual champion Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs. But Brady still seemed to have plenty of gas left in the tank, so perhaps he'll reverse course in the coming weeks, months or years, either with Tampa Bay or another organization.
"If Tom Brady didn't want the door open, if Tom Brady didn't want to play, he would tell us," Clark said. "This makes me feel that not only is the window or door open in Tampa Bay for him to come back, (but) that Tom just might actually walk through it."
If Brady indeed is done, he walks away with an unprecedented résumé that includes seven Super Bowl victories.
