Tom Brady may find himself in a headset more often than he ever has before. Photo courtesy of ESPN.
By Sara Bhatt, Staff Reporter
On Feb. 1 Tom Brady announced his retirement from the National Football League… again. Exactly one year prior, Brady had announced his retirement for the first time only to publicly change his mind just six weeks later and return to the NFL to settle “unfinished business.” Brady finished out his last three seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, leading them to a Super Bowl win in 2021 but falling short in the 2022-2023 season.
Months after announcing his retirement and eventual return to football in 2022, Brady and his then-wife, Gisele Bündchen, filed for divorce after 13 years of marriage. Bündchen claimed that Brady’s desire to keep playing football began to drive their family apart as he prioritized the sport over his home life. Knowing that the last time Brady “retired” he ended up divorced has everyone wondering if his true retirement will affect any other aspects of his personal life.
I believe that Brady’s retirement will allow the media to start viewing him as much more than just a football player. For starters, his involvement with his children is surely going to be noted specifically with his eldest son, Jack (15). Jack is now in high school and will be playing football for his school, which may give his father the opportunity to see what it’s like living life and watching football from the sidelines.
Now that Brady is officially done with his professional football career, many are speculating about what his next move will be. Jake Maier, the professional quarterback for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League, is set on seeing Brady as an analyst in the near future, as are many others. However, Brady’s long-term future may lie somewhere else.
It is not uncommon for former NFL players to find themselves coaching in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). For instance, NFL Hall of Famer, Deion “Prime Time” Sanders, has made quite an impression in college football in a short amount of time. The former Jackson State head coach has headed to the University of Colorado to continue a winning legacy. Sanders, just ten years Brady’s senior, has plans to coach collegiate football for many years to come. Another NFL great, Drew Brees, was recently named to the Purdue University coaching staff as an interim assistant coach. Brees, who is one year younger than Brady, is invested in coaching and working his way up. Will Brady one day do the same? Only time will tell.
With talks of Jim Harbaugh, head football coach at the University of Michigan (Brady’s alma mater), possibly heading to the NFL sooner rather than later, I personally think Brady will make a stint coaching collegiate football… maybe even for the Wolverines. However, it seems that being an analyst will be Brady’s post-retirement gig since he signed a ten-year deal with Fox Sports to be their lead on-air analyst. But ten years down the road, when Brady is the same age as Deion Sanders is now, the realm of collegiate football may just be calling his name.
