Tom Brady, the quarterback for the Buccaneers, announces that he will return for a 23rd season, “in Tampa.”

 

 

A few days after it was originally speculated, veteran quarterback Rob Brady of the Patriots and Bucs announced his retirement on social media on February 1. But almost immediately, concerns arose about how long Brady would actually be out of the game.

Brady’s 40-day retirement finally ended, but since it was never found on the league transaction wire, it was never properly disclosed. He is still under contract with Tampa Bay, but “it’s a placeholder year for roughly $10.4 million,” according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. “It makes sense that the Bucs extend Brady’s contract by one year, so he’ll be paid among the greatest quarterbacks in the NFL, just like they did before the 2021 season,” Pelissero said.

“Total excitement,” is what Bucs head coach Bruce Arians texted NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport on Sunday.

“Tom Brady loves to play football as much as anyone I have ever been around,” Arians said later in a statement. “He now belongs on the football field, as Tom indicated. He still plays at a championship level, having finished the previous season as the league’s most productive player. We are ecstatic that he decided to continue playing and pursue yet another championship.

Because of the chance of a Brady comeback, Rapoport claims the Bucs never sent a trade offer to the Houston Texans for quarterback Deshaun Watson.

Brady’s return homecoming falls around the same time that other Bucs players, like Rob Gronkowski and free agency Leonard Fournette, might be back.

“We are thrilled that Tom has decided to come back this season,” Tampa Bay general manager Jason Licht said in a statement. As we pledged to leave all options open for him in the event that he chose to reconsider his retirement, we have been prepared for today’s news for the previous few days. Tom and I had discussed a number of things recently, and we were very sure he may want to come back. Tom is still the greatest quarterback of all time and plays at a very high level. Now that this decision has been made, we will go on with our summer plans to restock this squad in anticipation of another championship run.