“You finished right?”, said soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo to quarterback Tom Brady. Brady proceeded to respond with a face of uncertainty before the video ended.
On Feb. 1, Brady announced his retirement from football after 22 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). This was huge news because Brady in his 22nd season was on the All-Pro second team and second in Most Valuable Player award voting. So, he couldn’t just barely play football at his advanced age, but he actually was still very good. Following the announcement of his retirement, people remained uneasy because it just didn’t seem like this was the end for Brady. These people were in fact correct. Brady announced that he was coming out of retirement to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the 2022-2023 season. This announcement was in fact on the same day as the video with Ronaldo. Another crazy “coincidence” came when Brady’s final touchdown pass ball was sold for over half a million dollars earlier on that same day. That buyer seriously got unlucky.
Brady’s retirement lasted just 49 days. The Major League Baseball lockout lasted longer than his retirement. Buccaneers’ fans can rest easy now as they were set to need a quarterback once Brady retired. They get at least one more season with him. According to Fox Sports, Brady’s return brought the Buccaneers Super Bowl odds to a tied second with the Green Bay Packers. Before the announcement, the Bucs were around the middle of the league in Super Bowl odds, but now they are all of the sudden contenders again.
I think most people are wondering the exact same thing. Why won’t this guy go away? Brady has dominated the league for the past two decades and he just won’t go away. If his first retirement lasted just 49 days, who knows how long until he actually retires? He probably will keep playing until he is just barely starting to regress. The worst part is, he seems like he’s almost getting better with his age. Is it actually possible that Brady plays until he is 50 years old? I really hope not, and I think most NFL fans would agree with me. Brady is without a doubt one of the best if not the best player of all time, but it’s time for a new generation of NFL quarterbacks. Quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Josh Allen have already shown that they are ready to take the league by storm, but Brady is somehow stopping them from winning championships. Brady has already denied Mahomes of two possible Super Bowl wins, who knows how many more he is going to deny if he keeps playing.
There isn’t much more to say about Brady unretiring. He’s back and I want him to go away. Although most people are sad that he’s back, a few fans and players are definitely happy that his retirement was short lived.
“Thank you! Throw that last touchdown pass on somebody else,” said Los Angeles Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey.
