In a radio appearance on Monday, the quarterback spoke publicly for the first time since reports emerged that he was retiring after his 22nd NFL season.
It’s been two days since the sports world was buzzing with reports that Tom Brady was retiring after 22 seasons, only to collectively screech to a halt after those reports were later refuted. It was all rather confusing, but the bottom line is that there has been no official decision one way or the other regarding Brady’s football future.
On Monday, Brady made his first public comments on the situation while speaking on his weekly “Let’s Go” podcast with Jim Gray, and the conversation revealed ... very little. Brady was noncommittal when asked about his decision, saying he would need to take some time to reach a conclusion.
“You control what you can control. People want to be in front of the news often, and I totally understand that and understand that’s the environment we’re in,” Brady said. “But I think for me, it’s day to day for me, trying to do the best I can every day, and evaluate things as they come and try to make a great decision for me and my family.”
Brady also expressed some disappointment that the reports of his retirement dominated the weekend’s news cycle, even as the league’s two conference championship games were played to thrilling conclusions.
“I was a little big disappointed that (my situation) would play some part in what is going on in NFL football, which to me is such an amazing sport and it’s a great sport, and the focus should be on those great games,” Brady said. “You’re right, for me, I was trying to enjoy a nice weekend and it didn’t turn out that way because my phone got really busy, but that’s just part of being in the situation I'm in.”
As the football world prepares for the Super Bowl in less than two weeks, Brady declined to put a timetable on when he planned to make his final decisions known.
“I’ll know when the time is right ... there is a lot of interest in when I am going to stop playing and I understand that,” Brady said. “When I know, I’ll know, and when I don’t know, I won’t know and I’m not gonna race to some conclusion about that.”
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