NFL quarterback Tom Brady retires after legendary 22-year career
Student football fans have mixed reactions to the official retirement announcement of long-time NFL quarterback Tom Brady. Wiki Commons
Tom Brady had seven Super Bowl championships to his name, but even that unforeseen number wasn’t enough. Brady returned again this season hoping to win back-to-back titles with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Against all odds, Brady put up astounding regular season numbers, throwing for a career high 5,316 passing yards and 43 touchdowns, second most in his career — all at the age of 44.
But his impressive run came up short when the Buccaneers fell to the Los Angeles Rams 30-27 in the divisional round of the playoffs. Following this loss, Brady officially announced his retirement Feb. 1 — confirming various rumors of his potential departure — leaving football fans everywhere with a wide range of thoughts regarding his retirement.
For fans like Evan Bugarin, a senior business administration major, the announcement came as a shock, but it wasn’t completely unexpected.
“Brady’s been playing for 22 years. I knew that it was eventually going to come to an end. There was news circulating that his family wanted him to retire as well, so when I saw those reports, I figured that he was really contemplating retiring this year.”
Paige McCaslin, a senior applied human physiology major, said that although she was fairly surprised when Brady announced his retirement, she had assumed he would have already walked away by now.
“I thought (Brady) should have retired last year after he won the Super Bowl with the Bucs, and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, go out on top,’” McCaslin said. “And then when he played this year, I was surprised. I thought he would try to redeem himself a little bit more from this season (before retiring), but I totally get (his decision).”
Brady was drafted as the 199th pick in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft, and although it wasn’t clear at the time, Brady would be the biggest draft steal in NFL history. Over the next two decades, Brady would go on to lead the New England Patriots to nine American Football Conference (AFC) titles and six Super Bowl wins.
In his time with the Patriots, many analysts questioned the greatness of Brady, arguing that it was head coach Bill Belichick’s system that allowed Brady to thrive. When Brady left the Patriots in 2020, he succeeded with the Buccaneers, proving that his football IQ and leadership in the locker room could propel him to another championship.
Given the stacked talent on the Buccaneers roster and Brady showing no signs of slowing down, Bugarin said that Brady had the opportunity to extend his time in the NFL.
“I definitely thought that he could have given it another go next year with the players that they had,” Bugarin said. “This season he had incredible numbers and was an MVP candidate, so I definitely think he could have kept playing for another year or two (to) see if he could make it to the Super Bowl again.”
When the game is on the line and a play must be made, Brady shows incredible poise and embraces the moment. And this was not a trait that developed over time; it was something that Brady possessed from the start.
In a 17-17 tie game with 1:21 left in the 4th quarter of Super Bowl XXXVI, Brady drove down the field and set up kicker Adam Vinatieri with a game-winning 48-yard field goal. On this drive, his situational awareness, quick decision making and accurate throws won him the game. Brady has exhibited all these traits in the biggest moments of his career, which puts him in the category of one of the greatest American athletes of all time.
Reed Vettel, a senior economics major, emphasized that Brady’s consistency and longevity separates him from other great American athletes — like Michael Jordan and Lebron James on the basketball court or Wayne Gretsky in the hockey rink.
“Is he the GOAT (greatest of all time) in all of American sports? Yes, I think he is,” Vettel said. “He's won at the highest level for the longest time.”
McCaslin agreed and attributed Brady’s sustained success with his unparalleled athletic ability.
“He’s an incredible athlete, and what he’s done as a quarterback for all of these years is absolutely insane,” McCaslin said. “All of his stats even this past year as he’s getting older … he’s still had one of his best seasons yet, which I think speaks to his athleticism and his dedication to the game.”
There are many examples of historic moments in Brady’s career, like going 16-0 in the 2007 regular season, erasing a 24-14 deficit in Super Bowl XLIX against the Seattle Seahawks, and beating the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime in the 2018 AFC Championship game.
Vettel said that he started watching Brady when he was around 8-years-old, and over the past 13 years of watching football, one of the best moments he witnessed was watching the New England Patriots play the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI.
“Down 28-3, (Brady) comes back and wins the game; that doesn’t just happen,” Vettel said, reflecting on the 2017 game. “His record of seven Super Bowls might be broken, but I think equally hard to do is to come back from 28-3 in the biggest game of the year and win. That moment gets me really excited, and I just love watching the highlights of that game.”
Now that Brady has left the league, there is an opportunity for the next player to step up their game and become the new face of the league. For Bugarin, he thinks that Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is next in line.
“(Mahomes) was just so good at a young age; he was in the (2018) AFC championship game (in his rookie season) and he went toe-to-toe with Brady,” Bugarin said. “That was crazy to see. It kind of feels like the same thing (as Brady) where you see (your team’s schedule, and) you’re like, ‘Oh great, we’re going against Patrick Mahomes ... alright, here’s another loss.’ I would definitely say that Patrick Mahomes is the new face of the league.”