Tom Brady retires again — ‘for good’

For good this time? For good. Or so it seems.

Tom Brady said so.

On Wednesday morning the seven-time Super Bowl-champion quarterback announced in a social-media video that, at age 45, he has retired as a competitive football player — “for good.”

It was exactly one year ago Wednesday — on Feb. 1, 2022 — that Brady confirmed a three-day-old ESPN report and retired for the first time, only to unretire 40 days later. An irked Brady apparently interrupted a family vacation to confirm last year’s retirement news, after someone in his inner circle leaked the news directly or indirectly to ESPN.

Brady proceeded to play his 23^rd and final NFL season, just past, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He and the Bucs offence struggled all season. The team finished 8-9 but won the terrible NFC South division, only to get hammered by Dallas in the opening round of the playoffs two Mondays ago.

Here’s the full transcript of Brady’s announcement Wednesday, which he appeared to have video-recorded himself, in a selfie-style closeup — on a breezy, overcast morning in some warm locale — which he soon posted to Twitter:

“Good morning, guys. I’ll get to the point right away: I’m retiring. For good.

“I know the process was a pretty big deal last time, so when I woke up this morning I figured I’d just press ‘record’ and let you guys know first. So, I won’t be long-winded. You only get one super-emotional retirement essay, and I used mine up last year.

“I really (want to) thank you guys so much, to every single one of you, [slight pause as Brady got emotional] for supporting me — my family, my friends, my teammates, my competitors. I could go on forever; there’s too many.

“Thank you guys for allowing me to live my absolute dream. [Then his eyes watered up more, and his voice began clutching] I wouldn’t change a thing. Love you all.”

With that, the most accomplished NFL player ever — and one of the most iconic global sports stars of the century — stepped away from competitive football, after one hellish year.

The GOAT really is gone this time, it would appear.

And what a career.

Over 23 NFL seasons — the first 20 with the New England Patriots, the last three with the Bucs — Brady led his team to 10 Super Bowl appearances, seven Super Bowl wins and snagged five Super Bowl MVP awards — all records unlikely to be surpassed any decade soon, if ever.

The native Northern Californian furthermore earned three NFL MVP awards, six first-team all-pro selections, 15 Pro Bowl selections — plus a slew of NFL career, single-season and post-season records for both passing and winning, many of which likely won’t ever be matched.

This past season Brady and the entire Buccaneers offence struggled mightily to move the ball, or score, with any dependable regularity. Fielding the league’s worst rushing attack was a huge factor, as was the confounding, continuing inability for Brady and his top pass-catchers to get on the same page. Right up to and including the disappointing playoff loss to the Cowboys, Brady too often threw to one place while a top wideout, usually Mike Evans, ran somewhere else.

For any team, for any QB-WR combo, that’s rare and embarrassing. For Brady, it was downright puzzling. It was clear to all that the 2022 Bucs offence was a mess, and coordinator Byron Leftwich was fired days after Tampa Bay was eliminated.

While Brady did not appear his old self this past season, and indeed at times seemed to finally be playing his age, it wasn’t because his physical skills diminished. He even led the league for the second straight season in both completions (490) and attempts (733) as well as in lowest sack percentage (2.9%).

Physically, he almost certainly could have continued playing. But maybe not at the level he’s used to. What’s more, his contract is up in Tampa Bay, and given all the all-too visible frustrations he exhibited this past season, it seemed unlikely he’d return there.

Which necessarily would have meant resuming his career elsewhere — under a different coaching staff, in a different offence, with different surrounding playmakers, in a different city. Even though he won a Super Bowl in his first year in Tampa Bay in 2020, Brady surely knew the odds of that happening a second time, and at age 46, had to have been mighty low. Clearly Brady was not ready to make that kind of time commitment, even if an otherwise Super Bowl-ready team was prepared to make it with him.

How much of a factor was his recent split with second wife Giselle Bundchen? Probably significant. Wherever she decides to settle down, Brady on a new team likely would have been far away — not from her but rather from their children. That never sits well for any dad with a heart.

So now what will he do?

For starters, expect him to begin his already-arranged post-playing job right away — as an analyst for FOX Sports. As it happens, that network is broadcaster of next week’s Super Bowl. Surely they’re gonna have Tom on as much as possible on Super Sunday, either in studio or at the big game, then ostensibly every Sunday during NFL seasons starting this coming September.

Will he be the greatest to ever offer commentary in an NFL broadcast booth, or studio? Probably not. While eloquent, Brady often hesitates at news conferences in choosing his words carefully, interspersing thoughts with too many “umms” and “y’knows,” etc. With training he surely can get over such humps quickly and, given his competitiveness, he surely is up to that task.

But it will be strange once training camps begin to not talk about Brady and his age-defying play.

He has screamed his last “LET’S GOOOOOO!!!!!” on a football field.

John Kryk writes a weekly newsletter on NFL matters. That’s where you can first see his straight-up picks each week. You can have the newsletter automatically dropped into your email inbox on Wednesdays simply by signing up — for free — at https://torontosun.com/newsletters/

JoKryk@postmedia.com

@JohnKryk

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