Tom Brady Retiring From the NFL After 22 Seasons
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is retiring from the NFL.
UPDATE: Tom Brady just made his retirement official on Instagram. Read more here via our KPEL News team.
According to NFL insiders Jeff Darlington and Adam Schefter, Tom Brady is calling it a career after 22 extraordinary seasons in the NFL.
Brady is arguably the best quarterback of all time, touting a list of accolades and records that tell the tale of his illustrious career in the NFL.
Since entering the league in the year 2000, Brady has won seven Super Bowls (named MVP in five of them) and has the most career wins of all time being named NFL MVP three times. In addition to those achievements, Brady also retires as both the NFL's all-time passing TD leader and holds the record for most passing yards.
The future Hall of Fame quarterback won Super Bowls with both the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers—and even as he turned 44 before the start of the most recent NFL season, Brady has said on multiple occasions that he planned to play as long as he was "performing at an elite level."
I feel like I want to play as a championship-level player. That's what I've said for a long time. When I'm not able to do that—I said a long time ago when I suck I'll retire—but what I really meant was when I'm not capable of leading the team to victory, then someone else has to do the job.
Brady led Tampa Bay to a Super Bowl win in his first season after joining the team in 2020, and while he was definitely playing at an elite level in the 2021 NFL season (led the NFL in both passing yards and passing TDs), Schefter and Darlington say his decision to call it quits was "based on several factors, including family, health and roster turnover in Tampa Bay."
Tom Brady may be the most accomplished player in NFL history, which will ultimately place him in the NFL Hall of Fame and have his #12 retired by both the Patriots and Bucs within the next few years.
Speaking of which, there is no clear answer on where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers go from here as their entire team was seemingly built around TB12.
But there will be plenty of time to discuss that in the offseason. For now, we will celebrate the GOAT as he hangs up his cleats after an amazing career.