Quarterback Tom Brady has announced his retirement “for good”, finally calling time on a historic NFL career with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In February last year, the seven-time Super Bowl champion, 45, had said he was finished playing – only to reverse that decision 40 days later.
Brady leaves with record totals of 89,214 yards and 649 touchdowns in the regular season and 13,400 yards and 88 touchdowns in the play-offs to go with seven Super Bowl titles, three league MVP awards and five Super Bowl MVPs.
He was named to 15 Pro Bowls, three first- and three second-team All-Pro selections, the league’s 100th anniversary all-time team and the all-decade teams for both the 2000s and 2010s.
Speaking in a video posted on his Twitter account, Brady, 45, said: “Good morning, guys. I’ll get to the point right away. I’m retiring for good.
“I know the process was a pretty big deal last time so when I woke up this morning I figured I’d just press record and let you guys know first.
“It won’t be long-winded. You only get one super emotional retirement essay and I used mine up last year.”
Many would argue that Brady is the greatest NFL player of all time – something that looked fanciful when the quarterback was selected in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft, the 199th overall pick.
Brady spent two decades at the New England Patriots between 2000 and 2019 and was central to the franchise’s dynasty.
He led the Patriots to their first Super Bowl triumph in February 2002 and further titles followed in 2004, 2005, 2015, 2017 and 2019.
Brady joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in March 2020 and won his seventh Super Bowl title the following February.
He holds nearly every major quarterback record, including most career passing yards, completions, touchdown passes and games started.
Brady announced his retirement in a lengthy statement posted on social media last February, before making a U-turn and saying that he would indeed play for a 23rd NFL season.
Tampa Bay’s season came to an end with a 31-14 play-off defeat to the Dallas Cowboys on January 17.
Brady offered few clues on his next move after that defeat.
But he has now said: “I really thank you guys so much, to every single one of you supporting me – my family, my friends, my team-mates, my competitors.
“Thank you for allowing me to live my absolute dream. I wouldn’t change a thing. Love you all.”
The Buccaneers tweeted a picture of Brady with the words ‘ThankYouTom’ and added prayers and goat (greatest of all time) emojis.
The Patriots quote-tweeted Brady’s video by posting three goat emojis and added a GIF of Brady showing his six Super Bowl rings won at the franchise.
The NFL shared a Pro Football Hall of Fame tweet which said: “Should this morning’s retirement announcement truly be the end of @TomBrady’s illustrious career, 2028 is a year worth noting.”
Here, the PA news agency looks back over his remarkable career record.
New England Patriots
After he was the 199th player chosen in the 2000 NFL draft, Brady and Bill Belichick established themselves as the NFL’s greatest quarterback-coach combination and built a dynasty unrivalled in recent decades.
He led the team to six Super Bowl wins – an NFL record shared with the Pittsburgh Steelers – and was named MVP in four of them to pass the record of his boyhood idol Joe Montana.
In the 19 years between him taking the starting position in 2001 and leaving the team, the Patriots won the AFC East 17 times. As some American pundits have noted, that 89.5 per cent rate means they won their division more reliably than basketball great Michael Jordan successfully made free throws (83.5 per cent) – and one of their two misses came in 2008, when injury meant Brady started only one game.
He finished his Pats career with 74,571 regular-season passing yards and 541 touchdowns, with another 72 post-season passing scores. Tight end Rob Gronkowski was by far his most prolific target with 90 touchdowns across the regular season and play-offs, later adding 15 more in Tampa Bay. Julian Edelman had 41, Randy Moss 40 and Wes Welker 38.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
After leaving Massachusetts, Brady headed south to Florida where he led the Bucs to only their second Super Bowl and first in 18 years.
It made him only the second player to win Super Bowls as a starting QB with two different teams, joining his long-time rival Peyton Manning, and meant he alone has won more titles than any NFL franchise, let alone any other player – though former Cleveland Browns quarterback Otto Graham won seven national titles before the Super Bowl era.
It also gave Brady more rings after turning 37 than before, four to three, as he became the oldest player ever to play in the big game.
Though the Bucs were unable to repeat in his final two seasons, Brady led the league for completions in 2021 (485) and 2022 (490) as he continued to defy his advancing age until the end.
In week three of the 2022 season, he passed the milestone of 85,000 career passing yards and then went on to reach a total of 100,000 in the match against the Los Angeles Rams.
Brady also also eclipsed Peyton Manning for the most all-time game-winning drives and broke his own NFL record for completions in a season, but the Buccaneers eventually lost out in the wild-card play-off round to the Dallas Cowboys.
In total, Brady threw touchdown passes to 98 different receivers in his career, adding the name of Kyle Rudolph in his final regular-season game. Mike Evans, with 36 touchdowns in three seasons including the play-offs, ranks highest among players who did not play with Brady in New England.