Here's Why Tom Brady IS Retiring, Just Not Today
Kevin C. Cox. Getty Images.It wasn't meant to be like this. The best career in the history of pro sports deserved the best retirement announcement. Tom Brady, going out on his own terms, and breaking the news to us on his own terms. On his social media or at a press conference. Or a Super Bowl ad for a streaming service. However he wanted to frame it. His career end should've been nothing less than dignified, heartfelt, and deeply emotional. The athletic equivalent of pointing to our hearts, saying "I'll be right here," climbing up the ramp to his spaceship, and leaving a rainbow behind while John Williams music swells. Adam Schefter co-authoring a Tweet with Jeff Darlington is for roster bubble safeties and 3rd down running backs, not icons.
And so, when that's how the news is delivered to us, it doesn't seem real. Even if neither Schefter nor Darlington ever bungle a story of this magnitude. And because we didn't hear it from the GOAT's mouth, there's a lack of finality to it. Which makes us all vulnerable to the doubt and confusion that followed:
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But it's really not confusing at all. Note the words the people in the Brady camp are using. Neither Brady the Elder or Don Yee said, "Tom plans on coming back." Calling the report "conjecture" and talking about "complete accuracy" is not a denial. And Brady himself could clear it all up in one IG post. But his last one was four days ago.
So what gives? It's actually pretty simple. Yee pretty much told us what the deal is with the operative words, "the realities of the football business and planning calendar." That seemingly innocuous phrase is the key behind the last 24 hours.
Fox Business - Tom Brady may be retiring after 22 seasons in the NFL with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers but he’ll be paid handsomely if he decides to call it quits after Feb. 4.
Brady initially signed a two-year contract with the Buccaneers before the start of the 2020 season. He would later sign a one-year extension through the 2022 season with three voided years for salary cap purposes. The contract included a no-trade clause and a no-franchise or transition tag clause.
According to Spotrac, $15 million of Brady’s $20 million signing bonus was deferred to Feb. 4, 2022. If Brady retires before Friday, he will give up the bonus money.
So all this drama, like so much of everything that goes on in the NFL, just comes down to accounting. It's all about the obscure and complex applied science of Capology. Brady has no intention of playing in 2022. But he has 15 million reason to be on the Bucs roster until Friday. The decision has been made, but the announcement had to wait until he collects the money he has coming to him. But someone told Schefter and Darlington ahead of schedule, and that's how we got into this mess.
The question that remains isn't "Will he or won't he?" That's already been determined. (Unless he comes back for another year just out of spite after the way this unfolded, which would be the wildest reason to unretire of all time.) No, the real question is who leaked this information? It clearly wasn't anyone on the Bucs, because they seem to be more in the dark than anybody. It had to be someone close to Brady. Or someone who works for him and couldn't keep this to themselves. All we can surmise is it's someone with enough credentials to be positively trusted by two of the most insidery NFL insiders in the insider business, because there's no way they'd run with this if it was just someone who works the register at TB12 fitness or the Brady Bundch kids nanny. Why they would dime him out and ruin his announcement plans is another question, but we'll probably never know the answer to either.
What we do know is that the best ever to play has played for the last time. It just won't be officially official until he gets his severance pay in five days.