Tom Brady retires

dynomite

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Hell, even Vinateri said in America's Game that if Bledsoe hadn't gotten hurt Tom would've never seen the field.
At the risk of disagreeing with Vinateri… I actually think Brady was a few weeks from taking over no matter what.

Obviously it’s hard to guess in hindsight, but in the “Brady Six” documentary Belichick says Brady “really had a better training camp than Bledsoe” in 01 and “what held us back from making that decision [to bench Bledsoe] was [Tom’s] inexperience.” (Around 21:00 in the video on YouTube)

And as we remember, this is the same Belichick who infamously benched (and later cut) Bernie Kosar in Cleveland.

Again, we can never know, and the fan reaction to bench a healthy Bledsoe would have been blood curdling, but even if Mo Lewis had held up on the sideline in that Week 2 game, I’ve always wondered whether Belichick would have made the call to start Brady in Week 3/4/5. Bledsoe had gone 5-13 under Belichick through that Jets game, and after losing at home (especially to the Jets) while scoring 3 points, putting up 160 yards passing, and throwing 2 INTs? I wonder.
 

tims4wins

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At the risk of disagreeing with Vinateri… I actually think Brady was a few weeks from taking over no matter what.

Obviously it’s hard to guess in hindsight, but in the “Brady Six” documentary Belichick says Brady “really had a better training camp than Bledsoe” in 01 and “what held us back from making that decision [to bench Bledsoe] was [Tom’s] inexperience.” (Around 21:00 in the video on YouTube)

And as we remember, this is the same Belichick who infamously benched (and later cut) Bernie Kosar in Cleveland.

Again, we can never know, and the fan reaction to bench a healthy Bledsoe would have been blood curdling, but even if Mo Lewis had held up on the sideline in that Week 2 game, I’ve always wondered whether Belichick would have made the call to start Brady in Week 3/4/5. Bledsoe had gone 5-13 under Belichick through that Jets game, and after losing at home (especially to the Jets) while scoring 3 points, putting up 160 yards passing, and throwing 2 INTs? I wonder.
In the Dynasty book, it has BB as telling Kraft on the eve of the season opener that if they were playing the best QB on the roster, they'd be playing Brady in week 1.
 

lars10

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ESPN is ride or die with their reporting. They are sticking to the 'set to retire' headline on SportsCenter this morning.
IMO espn has been pushing the retirement angle for weeks.. they don’t care about being accurate.. they just want to be first.

Did Brady give any indication of retiring after this year? Has he said anything publicly at all? It could be a timing issue or it could be that the season just ended, he’s tired and really hasn’t made up his mind. He’s obviously still very good and he said he’d walk away if he felt he wasn’t his best or was keeping his team from winning or something like that. Could be he just wants to relax for a few weeks and then see what the Bucs are doing for next season to remain competitive.
 

Sam Ray Not

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ESPN is ride or die with their reporting. They are sticking to the 'set to retire' headline on SportsCenter this morning.
I wonder if there’s a scenario where he was more or less decided on retirement, but where ESPN jumping the gun and stealing his thunder has made him reconsider.
 

Mystic Merlin

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I wonder if there’s a scenario where he was more or less decided on retirement, but where ESPN jumping the gun and stealing his thunder has made him reconsider.
‘Hey hon, I gotta come back for another year now because ESPN precluded me from announcing my retirement first! Don’t worry I’ll retire next year!’

I vote no.
 

Mystic Merlin

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And it’s not like he has the element of surprise anyways, his retirement shouldn’t be a shock given the considerable smoke billowing out of his own mouth as well as reporters connected to his camp over the past few weeks.
 

E5 Yaz

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It's a pretty good bet that Brady says next week that he wishes this hadn't become a distraction during championship weekend.
 

Van Everyman

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And yet, in addition to the fan reaction, by the time Belichick probably pulled the trigger on Brady the team would’ve been further in the hole that season. So no SB.

After 20 years of total domination, people forget (including me) how much Belichick in 2001 was simply seen as a another failed head football coach to that point in his career. No one was making excuses for him in Cleveland bc of Art Modell. He was known to be poor at managing people. And the media absolutely loathed him. Meanwhile, Kraft had just given Bledsoe a $100M contract and was in full “he’s like a son to me” mode.

All of which is to say it almost only could have happened the way it did: Bledsoe getting injured, Brady playing extremely efficiently, the team winning a bunch of games in a row. Even the roster construction stuff ended up playing out to their benefit: Patten and Brown being dynamic and reliable on short game stuff, Smith being a minor bell cow back, their defense carrying him. Of course it’s to both Brady and Belichick’s credit that they took the ball and ran with it. But any one of those factors doesn’t happen, Brady doesn’t probably get the leash he gets.
 

Ralphwiggum

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There was a massive QB controversy even after Brady had played and won a bunch of games when Bledsoe was hurt. And Bledsoe was a sacred cow with the Pats brat writers at the time. He took no heat for being the QB of a 5-11 team and it was just assumed the issues with the team were elsewhere. If BB had just benched him sans injury I honestly am not sure what happens. The media would have skewered him and this was before BB had enough credibility to ignore them.
 

Marciano490

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Hell, I remember at the Oakland game folks in the stands shouting for Bledsoe at halftime. Not that drunk fans surrounding me is a full barometer.
 

Mystic Merlin

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There was a massive QB controversy even after Brady had played and won a bunch of games when Bledsoe was hurt. And Bledsoe was a sacred cow with the Pats brat writers at the time. He took no heat for being the QB of a 5-11 team and it was just assumed the issues with the team were elsewhere. If BB had just benched him sans injury I honestly am not sure what happens. The media would have skewered him and this was before BB had enough credibility to ignore them.
I think Bill sticks to his guns, he did it in Cleveland with Kosar. He just DGAF, that’s one of his best qualities as a coach/executive.

And he did keep Drew on the bench after he was healthy, which was a big controversy at the time, so it’s not a far leap to think he would’ve benched him had the team been 3-7 or something.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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There was a massive QB controversy even after Brady had played and won a bunch of games when Bledsoe was hurt. And Bledsoe was a sacred cow with the Pats brat writers at the time. He took no heat for being the QB of a 5-11 team and it was just assumed the issues with the team were elsewhere. If BB had just benched him sans injury I honestly am not sure what happens. The media would have skewered him and this was before BB had enough credibility to ignore them.
i like this.
 

Ralphwiggum

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I think Bill sticks to his guns, he did it in Cleveland with Kosar. He just DGAF, that’s one of his best qualities as a coach/executive.

And he did keep Drew on the bench after he was healthy, which was a big controversy at the time, so it’s not a far leap to think he would’ve benched him had the team been 3-7 or something.
I think so too, but the dynamics would have been totally different though. In the locker room, with the fans and the media. It isn’t a given that everything works out the same way without Mo Lewis.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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I was positive he'd be coming back after the year he just had. He probably realizes the team isn't build for another run next season so he's better off stepping away.

He won us our first SB a few months before I graduated high school. He won two more SBs when I was in college. He was the best QB on the planet through my 20s. Then he won a SB with my 2 month old first born sitting on my lap. Since the Seattle SB, I've had two more kids...and hes had three more SB wins. I'm 37 years old - almost fucking 40 - and Brady has been here my entire adult life.

But not just here. More than that. Hes been at the pinnacle of greatness the entire fucking time.

God, I'm gonna miss him.
 

Mystic Merlin

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Hard to see not waiting a week to collect the money, unless it has some really negative impact on the team afterwards.
It’s a deferred signing bonus, so it isn’t technically contingent on him being on the roster by next week.

They do have the right to request 16M of his signing bonus back if he retires, but it doesn’t matter if his papers go in this week, next week, or 12 weeks from now.

Point is, the reporting on the 15M bonus installment due 2/4 has been sloppy because - probably to add intrigue/generate clicks, assuming they even understand this - it suggests there’s a a monetary twist to the timing of his retirement. And even if there was he could just wait to file his formal retirement papers with the NFL, which probably happens anyways (see Brees/Saints last year) to help TB with their 2021 cap situation.

EDIT - I’m not sure they’ll try to claw back the 16M of the 20M signing bonus he’s already earned because the bonus was used in his one year extension purely for cap reasons/to help Tampa keep its FA last year and it would thus seem kinda aggressive. But they technically could.
 
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wiffleballhero

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Good typo.
I’m not even sure it is a typo.

It is also worth remembering that Brady got injured in the AFCCG and Bledsoe played well, Pats won, and Brady remained injured and there was a good argument right into the SB game for playing Drew. BB stuck with the kid, even then, when Bledsoe had essentially done everything right under the circumstances, played a huge part in winning the conference championship game and was healthier going into the SB.
 

reggiecleveland

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I’m not even sure it is a typo.

It is also worth remembering that Brady got injured in the AFCCG and Bledsoe played well, Pats won, and Brady remained injured and there was a good argument right into the SB game for playing Drew. BB stuck with the kid, even then, when Bledsoe had essentially done everything right under the circumstances, played a huge part in winning the conference championship game and was healthier going into the SB.
Yeah the idea something was going to stop the TB/BB juggernaut is hard to believe. After everything people think TB stops working harder and Bb is scared to play him? Where has everybody been for 20 years.

They were an inevitable force of nature
 

McBride11

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Yeah the idea something was going to stop the TB/BB juggernaut is hard to believe. After everything people think TB stops working harder and Bb is scared to play him? Where has everybody been for 20 years.

They were an inevitable force of nature
The perfect pair.

This has been discussed, but Drew's support / help during that first season is incredible and still impresses me. Few athletes that made it to the pinnacle, hell even HS level, would be so helpful to their replacement
 

djbayko

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He's totally retiring.

The Athletic: Tom Brady addresses retirement reports: 'I'm still going through the process'
Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady said on his "Let's Go!" SiriusXM podcast Monday night that he hasn't made a decision on retirement.
...
"I'm still going through the process," he said. "When the time is right, I'll be ready to make a decision."
...
Brady told SiriusXM on Tuesday that he currently has no timetable for when he'll make that decision.

"I'm not going to race to some conclusion on that," he said.

Brady did tell the show that he did not want to distract from last weekend's conference championship games and the upcoming Super Bowl matchup between the Bengals and Rams.
 

Ferm Sheller

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Am I crazy to think that SF, Brady's hometown team, might acquire him for one season? Lance is still only 21 and would benefit from another redshirt year (while learning from the GOAT). They seem to be only a QB away.
 

Seels

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Am I crazy to think that SF, Brady's hometown team, might acquire him for one season? Lance is still only 21 and would benefit from another redshirt year (while learning from the GOAT). They seem to be only a QB away.
I think just about anything is on the table. What we know is that Brady doesn't want the official announcement now. Maybe he's buying time for something like this, maybe he's being authentic, maybe it's because he wants the $.
 

Quiddity

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I’m not even sure it is a typo.

It is also worth remembering that Brady got injured in the AFCCG and Bledsoe played well, Pats won, and Brady remained injured and there was a good argument right into the SB game for playing Drew. BB stuck with the kid, even then, when Bledsoe had essentially done everything right under the circumstances, played a huge part in winning the conference championship game and was healthier going into the SB.
People have rose colored glasses about Bledsoe's contributions in that game. Bledsoe came in on a second quarter drive where Brady had already gotten the team to the Steeler's 40 yard line. Bledsoe drove them down the field for a TD (almost getting knocked out again after taking a hit very similar to the one from Mo Lewis). The rest of the game the Pats' offensive output was a single field goal. Pats won that game mostly due to 2 special teams touchdowns and multiple turnovers forced by the defense.
 

tims4wins

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People have rose colored glasses about Bledsoe's contributions in that game. Bledsoe came in on a second quarter drive where Brady had already gotten the team to the Steeler's 40 yard line. Bledsoe drove them down the field for a TD (almost getting knocked out again after taking a hit very similar to the one from Mo Lewis). The rest of the game the Pats' offensive output was a single field goal. Pats won that game mostly due to 2 special teams touchdowns and multiple turnovers forced by the defense.
This. Drew played ok. 3-3 on that first drive. But he nearly threw a pick six, threw another pass backwards over his head that was called for intentional grounding, etc. He did have some huge completions on a clock killing drive in the 4th quarter. But he didn’t play any better than ok.
 

Ferm Sheller

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I think just about anything is on the table. What we know is that Brady doesn't want the official announcement now. Maybe he's buying time for something like this, maybe he's being authentic, maybe it's because he wants the $.
Probably a long shot, but if Brady and SF want this, there aren't many hurdles: Work out a deal with Tampa, get Lance on board with it. Maybe could even talk Gronk into joining him.
 

E5 Yaz

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Probably a long shot, but if Brady and SF want this, there aren't many hurdles: Work out a deal with Tampa, get Lance on board with it. Maybe could even talk Gronk into joining him.
You've been listening to too much Bill Simmons. And by "too much," I mean "any."
 

Ferm Sheller

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You've been listening to too much Bill Simmons. And by "too much," I mean "any."
No, I haven't heard his voice or read anything he's written or has been quoted as saying in at least a decade. Completely an ingenious independent thought of my own clever and advanced brain. Playing backgammon while everyone else is playing Parcheesi.
 

Mystic Merlin

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Why would Tampa trade him to SF? Why would SF, who apparently didn’t want him in ‘20, want him now after spending all of King Midas’ draft picks to get Trey Lance?

Those are massive hurdles.
 

Ferm Sheller

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Why would Tampa trade him to SF? Why would SF, who apparently didn’t want him in ‘20, want him now after spending all of King Midas’ draft picks to get Trey Lance?

Those are massive hurdles.
Tampa would trade him to SF because he wants them to -- he helped Tampa win a SB and he wants a final season with his boyhood team (which is stacked and, as we saw, likely "only a QB away"). Tampa gets a pick from SF, which beats nothing if Brady retires.

SF wants him because they feel Lance isn't ready but they want to move on from Jimmy G. Brady is a one-year bridge to Lance being ready.

I don't know if any of the above is true (Brady wanting to play another year, Tampa being willing to trade him, and SF feeling like Lance could use another year on the bench), and it's more likely that he'll retire, but it seems plausible.
 

BigSoxFan

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Why would Tampa trade him to SF? Why would SF, who apparently didn’t want him in ‘20, want him now after spending all of King Midas’ draft picks to get Trey Lance?

Those are massive hurdles.
I would really, REALLY like to understand the thought process of SF turning down the GOAT in 2020 after watching Jimmy G pee down his leg in the 4th quarter of a SB.
 

Ferm Sheller

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I would really, REALLY like to understand the thought process of SF turning down the GOAT in 2020 after watching Jimmy G pee down his leg in the 4th quarter of a SB.
Because they thought at age 42, or however old he was, that he was finished. He was coming off a down year.
 

E5 Yaz

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Tampa would trade him to SF because he wants them to -- he helped Tampa win a SB and he wants a final season with his boyhood team (which is stacked and, as we saw, likely "only a QB away"). Tampa gets a pick from SF, which beats nothing if Brady retires.

SF wants him because they feel Lance isn't ready but they want to move on from Jimmy G. Brady is a one-year bridge to Lance being ready.

I don't know if any of the above is true (Brady wanting to play another year, Tampa being willing to trade him, and SF feeling like Lance could use another year on the bench), and it's more likely that he'll retire, but it seems plausible.
Farfetched you say?

View: https://twitter.com/RealSkipBayless/status/1488334980417658880
 

ZMart100

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I do like the idea of Brady playing on a team with Wes Welker as the WR coach on the staff. Troy Brown was only a vague assistant in Brady's final year.
 

Ferm Sheller

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Just to be clear, I do think the most likely result is that he will retire. I just think it's likely that the NFL asked him to hold off on announcing it such as not to steal the attention from the SB.

But if he were going to play another season, SF would be a hell of a match for him if they're interested...
 

Al Zarilla

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Non-football related things that have to be done if he did come to San Francisco (Santa Clara):

1. Pull the kids out of school, again, and get them into new schools in the Bay Area. Always a pain but players that change teams have to go through this. Probably an item Gisele would have on her com list re his playing more. Bay Area schools in the right towns are tops. They were lucky in his first 20 years in the league in this area in not having to uproot kids from schools.

2. Find a house, unless they already have a house in the bay area. I don't know. Atherton, Hillsborough and Los Altos Hills are very nice and they could find a mansion up to $50 Mil or more, like I believe they've had in the past. Dozens of them.

Modifying an old Dave Loggins song, "Please come to San Francisco." I like watching you play too much.
 

SamCassellsStones

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How about Brady goes to the Raiders to team up w/ Josh, & Aaron Rodgers to the Broncos - we’d get to see Brady Rodgers Mahomes (& Herbert) in the same division! (Note: this scenario is wildly unlikely)
 

Justthetippett

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Just to be clear, I do think the most likely result is that he will retire. I just think it's likely that the NFL asked him to hold off on announcing it such as not to steal the attention from the SB.

But if he were going to play another season, SF would be a hell of a match for him if they're interested...
If the NFL asked him to do anything, I hope he immediately did the opposite. And yes, I am still bitter.

Can SF fit Adams or Godwin under its cap in addition to Brady (and Gronk)? They don’t have to worry about a First round pick…