What to Know
- Reports of Tom Brady's impending retirement announcement began swirling Saturday morning
- The news was seemingly confirmed with the NFL tweeting the retirement news, along with a tribute from his TB12 Sports company
- Later Saturday, sources told NBC News and the Associated Press that Brady had contacted Buccaneers GM Jason Licht to say he had not yet made a final decision
Editor's Note: This story has been updated throughout the day as the story developed. Read the latest story here
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It looked like seven Super Bowl titles would be the end of the line for Tom Brady.
Saturday morning, ESPN began reporting that the legendary quarterback would be retiring from football after a more than two decade career.
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The NFL began tweeting about his retirement Saturday afternoon, and his company TB12 sports also tweeted a tribute.
That TB12 tweet was later deleted, and sources from his camp began pushing back on the reports by later afternoon, with his agent issuing a statement saying any announcement would come from Brady himself.
His mom then told NBC Bay Area the reports were incorrect, saying "I think his family would know first. I’m not sure where it (retirement story) all got started."
Sources also told NBC News that Brady had contacted Buccaneers General Manager Jason Licht to inform him he has yet to make a final decision about his future.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback has made 10 Super Bowl appearances, 15 Pro Bowls, three MVP awards and countless other records.
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Brady, who spent the first 20 years of his career with the New England Patriots, had said for years that he planned on playing until he was 45.
Brady, who turns 45 on Aug. 3, has already outlasted every player from his own draft class in 2000, when he was drafted 199th overall by the Patriots in Bill Belichick’s first season. He’s also outlasted every player drafted in 2001, 2002 and 2003.
Brady led the league in both passing yards (5,316) and passing touchdowns (43) in 2021, the second time in his career he's led the NFL in both categories in the same season (2007).
ESPN's Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington reported the news earlier on Saturday that the legendary quarterback is retiring after 22 seasons.
Schefter later shared a statement from Brady's agent, Don Yee, in which he commented on the retirement report, saying in part, "I understand the advance speculation about Tom's future. 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."
A member of the Hall of Fame all-decades teams from both the 2000s and 2010s, Brady retires as the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards (84,520), passing touchdowns (624) and completed passes (7,263). Brady retires after 47 career playoff games, most all-time and 15 more than the next-closest player in former Patriots teammate Adam Vinatieri. His 318 regular season appearances are seventh-most all-time.
Brady had been attempting to lead the Buccaneers to back-to-back Super Bowl titles, something no team had accomplished since Brady’s Patriots in 2003-04.
Over 285 appearances with New England, including 283 starts, Brady went 219-64, plus 30-11 in the postseason and 6-3 in Super Bowls. He won MVP honors with the Patriots in 2007, 2010 and 2017, though didn't win the Super Bowl in any of those seasons. Brady was MVP in Super Bowls XXXVI, XXXVIII, XLIX and LI with New England and LV in Tampa Bay.
