Seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Tom Brady will retire after 22 NFL seasons, according to multiple US media reports Saturday.
The 44-year-old signal caller won his record seventh crown last year with Tampa Bay after taking six in 20 years with the New England Patriots.
ESPN and the NFL Network reported Brady will hang up his helmet and cleats while CBS Sports declared his retirement was imminent.
Brady’s agent, Don Yee, would not confirm the gridiron legends plans, only saying that nothing will be official until Brady says it is.
“I understand the advance speculation about Tom’s future,” Yee said. “Without getting into the accuracy or inaccuracy of what’s being reported, Tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy.
“He knows the realities of the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody, so that should be soon.”
There was a sense Brady did not wish to overshadow Sunday’s NFL playoff games, but there was general reaction that Brady would indeed retire.
“All the moments. All the memories. Thank you for everything,” the NFL tweeted, also sending, “GOAT” for Greatest of All Time and “Nobody Did It Better” with a list of Brady’s historic achievements.
Brady was a five-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player and three-time NFL season MVP. He won a record 243 regular-season gams.
Brady set NFL passing records with 7,263 completions on 11,317 attempts for 84,520 yards and 624 touchdowns.
He guided the Buccaneers to last year’s Super Bowl title in his first season at Tampa Bay, then led them back into this year’s playoffs, only to lose 30-27 to the Los Angeles Rams.
Brady made an NFL one-season record 485 completions in the 2021 campaign for a career-high 5,316 passing yards, indicating that he could continue playing but will walk away on his own terms.
