Buccaneers’ Brady Hints at Playing Beyond 2022

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ quarterback Tom Brady retired and the un-retired earlier this offseason. Since his retirement and subsequent return the speculation has been would Brady play beyond the 2022 season. But that was speculation from “sources” that are “close” to Brady. This doesn’t appear to be that…

In an interview with Ramin Setoodeh from “Variety” Brady reiterated he is “very close” to the end of his career. But then insisted he doesn’t know if this is his last year.

Brady on how much longer he plans on playing 

“I really don’t. I would say it’s year to year: Could this be my last year? Absolutely. Could I change my mind? Absolutely. I’ve realized I don’t have five years left. I want to do it my way. I want to give it everything I got and see where I’m at. My body feels really good. I’ve had a lot of traumatic injuries over the years, but if things go really smoothly and we win, that’d be great.”

Brady on whether having a shot at another ring factored into his return from retirement

“I think that would obviously be the greatest way to end. I just have a competitive fire that got the best of me.”

Brady talks about what drove him to retire in February

“I made the decision in the moment, and I felt it was the right thing for the team to let the Bucs know. You need time to plan. And then through conversations with Bruce [Arians, the team’s former coach], Jason [Licht, general manager] and my wife, I felt like I could still play and compete.”

Brady on his 40-day retirement

“I know, I know. I would have preferred to un-retire in July if I wanted to play. But I couldn’t. If I said I’m not playing, they’d make plans. So I felt there was a lot of pressure to make a decision quickly. And then ultimately, I just decided, “Yes, let’s do it.” And once I said that, it was like — OK, here we go.”

If I’m Buccaneers’ general manager Jason Licht, I’m on the phone right now offering Brady whatever he wants, players or otherwise to commit to two more years. With the Buccaneers using three-year contracts to lock up their core players recently the team is set up already.

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