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Brady emphasizes the importance of his family.
Tom Brady says his family will play a big part in determining if he will return to play in the NFL next season. (0:52)
The time is 9:14 PM.
Tom Brady said Monday that family will play a big part in determining whether he will return to play next season. He said that if this is it, he could walk away "proud and satisfied" even though the team lost in the playoffs.
Football is very important to me, and I care a lot about my teammates, and I think that's the best part about being older. I care about my kids a lot now that I'm older, and that's the biggest difference. They've been my biggest supporters. My wife supports me the most. It hurts her to see me get hit. She deserves what she needs from me as a wife, and my kids deserve what they need from me as a father.
"I'm going to spend some time with them and give them what they need, because they've really been giving me what I need the last six months to do what I love to do." It's what relationships are all about, I said a few years ago. It's not always what I want. It's what we want for our family. I'm going to spend a lot of time with them and figure out what's next.
Brady has three children. Brady sees his oldest son, Jack, as much as he can because he lives with his mother in New York. Brady and his wife, Gisele Bundchen, have two children with Brady's son and daughter.
Brady said that getting to eat waffles with his children Monday morning was something he couldn't do in-season.
He said there is no rush to make a decision, and that no timetable has been set. The team wants Brady to come back but has encouraged him to take all the time he needs and will look at contingency plans in the event he doesn't.
How could Brady walk away from a loss? He has won seven Super Bowl rings, and has a 243- 73 record during the regular season and a 35-12 record in the playoffs. In the event it was his last game, he felt he couldn't take everything because of his competitiveness.
Brady said that he was proud and satisfied of everything the team accomplished this year. I've given everything I had this year, last year, the year before that, and the year before that. I don't leave anything half-assed. I leave it with everything I have. I work hard on my physical being. I give everything I have to my teammates. As you get older, there are different priorities and responsibilities. There are things happening outside of football that require some time and energy.
I have to make sure that I can commit to what the team needs, and that's really important to me. The team is my best. If I can't play at a championship level, then you have to give someone else a chance to play. We'll see. There is a long time between now and the start of the football season. It's natural for anyone to figure those things out. We never know what's going to happen in the future. We don't. Kobe Bryant is a friend of ours. You think you're going to live forever. We're not. We think we will play forever. We're not. What can we do? We can enjoy the moments that we have.
As challenging as the season was, I was glad I played and glad I participated, because I'm living my life and I'm not just counting the days. My days are important to me. I'm going to try to keep them meaningful to me. I will do my best to enjoy the time that I have not been playing football. That is equally important. I enjoy playing football. I like it. There's a lot of joy in not playing football, with my kids getting older, and seeing them grow. All of these things need to be considered. The funny part is that most guys retire and then move to Florida. I'm in Florida. It's really confusing to me.
Brady doesn't want a farewell tour with all the fanfare that accompanies it. Ben Roethlisberger was acknowledged by fans and players as the season ended, even taking a final lap around the field. Green Bay quarterback Rodgers said he didn't want one either, and there was a chance he might have been his last season with the Packers.
I don't think that would be helpful for me. Brady said that his enjoyment comes from the competition, not from what he has accomplished as a player. I was thinking about competing yesterday. I was thinking about competing all year. I was not thinking about anything else.
I'll think about those things when the time comes. You get asked about that a lot when you're 44. A lot of people thought I was done playing football. Many people in 2016 said, 'You're done.' A lot of people said that when I left the team.
Instead, Brady signed with the Bucs in 2020 and took them to the playoffs for the first time in 13 years and led the team to its second Super Bowl 18 years after its first. Brady's team failed to advance in the playoffs for the fourth time in his career, as the Bucs came up short.
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