Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesIf this is the end of the line for Tom Brady, what a ride it was.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion and the quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is preparing to retire, according to CBS Sports. An official announcement is imminent.
La Canfora wrote.
"Several sources who are within Brady's inner circle anticipate that he will most likely reveal his future plans in the coming days. Brady is a historian of the game, he understands what it takes for players and teams to reach this point in the season, and would not want to upstage the game itself in any way. Making an announcement the week leading up to the Super Bowl would not be his style, and waiting until after the Super Bowl, with the scouting combine then just weeks away, might begin to cut into the Buccaneers' ability to pivot as an organization and readjust their plans for 2022 if it was now to not include arguably the greatest football player who ever lived."
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Brady had previously said he wanted to play until he was 45. He told Peter King that he would know when it was time to hang up his cleats.
Brady said that he would know when the time was right. I don't think I'm a liability to the team. I will play if I think I can win a championship.
A source told La Canfora that some of Brady's teammates thought the game could be his last.
It wouldn't, said Rob Ninkovich, Brady's former teammate in New England.
Brady said that his family would play football while on the Let's Go!
"I'm gonna spend some time with them and give them what they need, 'cause they've really been giving me what I need the last six months to do what I love to do. I said this a few years ago, it's what relationships are all about. It's not always what I want. It's what we want as a family. And I'm gonna spend a lot of time with them and figure out in the future what's next."
It would be surprising if Brady walked away from football after he put together a campaign like that. It was the second time in his career that he threw for more than 5,000 yards.
Brady is under contract with the Bucs for one more year.
Brady will go down as the greatest to ever do it if this is the last time he does it.
He has seven Super Bowl titles, five Super BowlMVP awards, three NFLMVP awards, three first-team All-Pro selections, 15 Pro Bowl nominations, and numerous records over his time with the New England and the Buccaneers.
