Surefire Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady has officially retired from playing football. And unlike last season when he unretired following his 2021 postseason loss to Aaron Donald and the Los Angeles Rams, this appears to be a more permanent stepping away from the game.
Brady will still be around football. He’ll be working as a broadcaster for Fox and is in the process of becoming a minority owner for the Las Vegas Raiders. But he’ll no longer be suiting up for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or New England Patriots.
Despite this, there have been rumors and discussions about if Brady is truly retired. Of course, after last offseason, anything is possible. However, Brady is actually excited for retirement. At the very least, avoiding the Rams superstar Donald on a football field is a great motivator to stay away, via SportsCenter:
Fair to say when Week 1 comes around, @TomBrady is not going to miss playing 😅 pic.twitter.com/97nPLvOV6d
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 1, 2023
Donald is one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history and, like Brady, a surefire Hall of Famer. He is playing for a rebuilding Rams team in 2023, but is still one of the most feared defenders in the game, especially for opposing quarterbacks.
Brady received his fair share of hits from Donald over the years, including in Super Bowl LIII when the Rams faced his Patriots in what wound up being a 13-3 defensive battle that saw Brady come out on top once again.
Now, Brady can sit comfortably in the broadcast booth knowing that Donald won’t be breaking through the offensive line to get to him anymore, and can watch as Donald does the same thing to a new segment of QBs. It’s definitely enough motivation to stay retired at 45 years old, even if Brady could still compete at a high level.
Stafford happy with new three-QB rule
One thing that Brady never got to see during his playing days is a brand new rule that allows teams to carry a third active QB that does not count towards the 53-man roster limit. This was primarily put in place to avoid situations like the San Francisco 49ers in the 2022 NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
However, Matthew Stafford is certainly happy with the implementation of the rule. He believes it will encourage players to be more honest about their health situation, knowing that the team has fallback options if they can’t play.
