Tom Brady Reveals He Nearly Un-Retired Earlier This Year

Former quarterback Tom Brady as seen in a file photo. Larry Busacca/Getty Images

Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady said that he nearly came out of retirement earlier this year but didn’t because his friends threw a retirement party.

The former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback on Sunday finally responded to earlier speculation that he might once again return to the field.

“Looking back on 2023 grateful for every moment,” he wrote on social media. “Cherishing the highs, learning from the lows, and looking forward to what’s coming next. I’m blessed to have family and friends filled with so much love, joy, and compassion surrounding me.”

He continued: “As you get older, you realize that this is really the only thing that matters, and I’ll never take these people for granted. Hug your kids, call your parents, tell your friends that you love them, and let’s all help make 2024 a kinder and happier year for everyone in our lives.”

The future first-ballot Hall of Famer then added a note saying that he nearly came out of retirement but didn’t. “The only downside to 2023 was when I was about to unretire in May and my friends threw a surprise retirement party. Kind of forced my hand,” he wrote, although with a laughing emoji.

Mr. Brady, 46, officially retired from the NFL on Feb. 1, 2023, coming around a year after winning his seventh Super Bowl with the Buccaneers.

But if he had decided to come out of retirement, it would have been the second time he returned to the league. After winning the Super Bowl with the Buccaneers, he retired but announced that he would come back for another season weeks later.

During his final season, he completed 66.8 percent of his passes for 4,694 yards, threw 25 touchdowns, and threw nine interceptions.

But in early 2023, there were numerous rumors claiming that Mr. Brady might return, which he shot down in June.

“I’ve tried to make that clear, and I hate to continue to profess that because I’ve already told people that lots of times,” Mr. Brady said in a video. “I’m looking forward to my broadcasting job at Fox next year. I’m looking forward to the opportunity ahead with the Raiders, and we’re in the process of that, along with the other different things that I’m a part of professionally and in my personal life, just spending as much time with my kids as I can, and seeing them grow up, and support the different things that they have going on.”

Reports have indicated that next year the former Patriots quarterback will start a 10-year term worth around $375 million with Fox as an NFL analyst.

“There’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears and being out there in a hundred degree heat in Miami, and it’s hard in Tampa when you got helmets and shoulder pads on,” added Mr. Brady at the time. “And I am very excited to never put on a helmet again. I did enough years of that and putting that six-pound helmet on your head in 102-degree heat, believe me. I’m not ever gonna miss that.”

Months later, in October, he told a YouTube personality that his family would negatively react if he did, in fact, come out of retirement. He was responding to earlier speculation that he could return after New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers went down for the season with an Achilles injury early on in the 2023–2024 season.

“I am not coming out of retirement,” he said, adding, “My parents would call, my kids would call ... they'd kill me. I wouldn’t be around by tonight. As I said, you’re only allowed one un-retirement. And I’ve used it up.”

The Patriots, meanwhile, honored Mr. Brady as part of their regular season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles in early September.