Tom Brady Comes Out of Retirement Shortly After Retiring

Tom Brady announced that he is coming back to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to play his 23rd season in the NFL. The announcement came Sunday on Brady’s Instagram and Twitter, just 40 days after he said he was retiring. 

Brady has won seven Super Bowls, six with the New England Patriots and one with the Buccaneers in 2019. Yet the future Hall of Famer still says he has “unfinished business.”

“These past two months I’ve realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands,” Brady said. “That time will come. But it’s not now. I love my teammates, and I love my supportive family. They make it all possible. I’m coming back for my 23rd season in Tampa.”

Brady, 44, led all NFL quarterbacks with 5,316 passing yards, 43 touchdowns and 485 completions in the 2021 season. The Buccaneers finished the regular season with a record of 14 wins and 3 losses, but lost to the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round of the playoffs. 

Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians is excited following Brady’s announcement, and believes that the team can win another Super Bowl.

“Tom Brady loves to play football as much as anyone I have ever been around,” Arians said in a statement released by the Buccaneers on Sunday. “As Tom said, his place right now is on the football field. He is still playing at a championship level and was as productive as anyone in the league last season. We are ecstatic that he decided to continue playing and working toward winning another championship.”

Brady’s decision to return may have come as a shock to the public, but the announcement was not as surprising for the Buccaneers front office. On Sunday, general manager Jason Licht said they are ready to surround him with the right pieces to win another Super Bowl.

“Bruce (Arians) and I have had plenty of conversations with Tom recently that led us to believe there was a realistic chance he would want to come back,” Licht said. “Tom is the greatest quarterback of all time who is still playing at an elite level. With this decision now made, we will continue to move forward with our offseason plans to reload this roster for another championship run.”

The day prior to Brady’s announcement to return, an anonymous fan purchased the game ball he threw -what would have been- his last touchdown with for $518,000. The touchdown took place in the team’s loss to the LA Rams on Jan. 23 and was caught by all-pro receiver Mike Evans. 

Evans was among the many players on the team and around the NFL to react on Twitter to Brady’s return. Teammates Tristan Wirfs, Mike Edwards and Chris Godwin also expressed their excitement, while Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey voiced his joy for another reason. 

“Thank you!,” Ramsey wrote. “Throw that last touchdown on somebody else.”

Before Brady announced his return, Buccaneers’ fans were worried that they would be back to having quarterback issues as they did for years prior to his arrival in Tampa Bay. Longtime Buccaneer fan Tony Stabile said it was a “very surreal feeling” when he learned about Brady’s return.

“When I first saw the news I had to read it over twice and check other sources to make sure it was true,” Stabile said. “After falling just short in the playoffs, I felt like Brady couldn’t just settle with his last game being a loss.”

In Brady’s 22 seasons in the NFL, he has amassed an NFL record of 84,520 career passing yards and he is 278-85 in his career. He is the only player to ever win more than five Super Bowls and has been named Super Bowl MVP five of his seven wins. 

Many fans, like Stabile, would not be surprised if Brady adds another Super Bowl title to his storied legacy before he finally hangs up the cleats for good. 

“Tom won’t settle for anything less than getting an 8th ring,” Stabile said. “I definitely expect the Bucs to bounce back and will be holding the Lombardi trophy next February.”