Tom Brady

Tom Brady Retirement: Sad Press Conference Tone Sparks Fears

Is this the end?

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Tom Brady Retirement: Sad Press Conference Tone Sparks Fears

Tom Brady’s team The Buccaneers are on a downhill slide. And after the Dallas Cowboys won their first road playoff game for the first time since 1992 against them, the questions over what’s next for them won’t be ending any time soon. Caught up in all that is the reluctant-to-retire GOAT, Tom Brady.

Tom Brady’s first retirement didn’t even last two months. But even though many say he clearly isn’t ready to hang up his boots just yet, he will be out of contract at the Buccaneers after this season, and speculation over his future is rife. The retirement rumours are also particularly strong now, thanks to the grim tone of a recent press conference.

After his team’s latest loss, Brady said: “I love this organization. It’s a great place to be. Thank you everybody for welcoming me. Just very grateful for the respect and I hope I gave it back to you guys.”

But will he really retire again? Or will he renew his contract with the Buccaneers? What about finding a new team? As The Sun recently pointed out, National Insider for NFL Network, Ian Rapoport reckons Brady is “leaning towards playing than retiring.”

Making his comments on the Pat McAfee Show on Monday, Rapoport said: “The Bucs want him back and I know he likes that situation and he likes the owners so I wouldn’t rule that out.”

He also said he could be a good fit for The Raiders, adding: “The Raiders are an interesting thing. They have got all of his old friends and they seem like a good team to just drip in at quarterback.”

“They can also do a really cool thing in they could draft a quarterback and have Tom Brady only playing one year.”

He added: “There will be some other teams that are pretty good who have some quarterback questions.”

“The Titans are pretty good. What about the Jets? He has family in New York. Vegas is definitely a team to watch for Brady. It makes a lot of sense for everyone.”

Tom Brady of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throws a pass against the Dallas Cowboys. Image via Getty

No shortage of options then. But what about throwing in the towel altogether? Sporting News has also thrown cold water on that one, citing a report by NFL Network which erred on the side of hopefulness that the great will continue playing (despite the jokes online he will now have to retire again after his team’s loss today).

According to Sporting News, “NFL Network reported in December that ‘all options are on the table’ for Brady in 2023” and that Brady “feels good enough to keep playing.”

Sporting News also wrote that “NFL Network also said that Brady entered the season planning to retire but could be open to considering his options in free agency.”

RELATED: Tom Brady Comes Out Of Retirement After Talking With Cristiano Ronaldo

SB Nation was even stronger in its opinion that Brady isn’t going anywhere, writing: “That’s not going to happen.” They added: “Brady did not unretire, and come back to the game, to go out like this. With a losing record, with so many questions lingering over him, and with his biggest critic wondering if the game has – finally – passed him by.”

“To understand Brady is to understand the art of self motivation. Professional athletes are talented in many ways, but finding disrespect — even where none is intended — is perhaps their greatest gift.”

SB Nation

Fan theories have naturally gone into overdrive on the matter, with Tom Brady now trending on Twitter. Opinions ranged from the rude and disrespectuful (“tom brady fr gave up his family just to get blown out by the cowboys”) to even more disrespectful (see: the various memes). Others said his ego would not allow him to retire at this point.

Others speculated his press conference sounding like a goodbye. One Twitter user wrote: “Tom Brady ends his press conference with a thank you to the media in what sounded like a goodbye.”

With the 2022 season easily being one of Brady’s toughest ever seasons, a move to another team could be a good option for him. However feeling wanted by a club is very important, so we definitely can’t rule out Brady staying at the Buccaneers either. It’s also possible he could devastate us and retire again, but we’re really hoping he doesn’t. Hopefully he finds all the doubt disrespectful enough to motivate him to keep on going.

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