Tom Brady may have just hinted at when he’ll retire, but he also doesn’t seem completely sure

Tom Brady has already retired once, and although that retirement only lasted 40 days, it’s safe to say that at some point, he’s going to retire again, and when that happens, it will be likely be for good. 

Brady will be 45 years old when the 2022 season starts and he’s said multiple times over the past few years that playing until 45 was his ultimate goal. 

So will he actually keep playing after this season? That’s a great question that he still seems unsure about. 

On one hand, in a recent interview with Variety, he did seem to hint that he might retire if the Buccaneers were to win the Super Bowl this year. 

“I think that would obviously be the greatest way to end,” Brady said of going out with one more Lombardi Trophy. “I just have a competitive fire that got the best of me.”

On the other hand, Brady also admitted that there’s still definitely a possibility that he could end up playing beyond this season. 

“I would say it’s year to year: Could this be my last year? Absolutely. Could I change my mind? Absolutely. I’ve realized I don’t have five years left,” Brady told Variety. “I want to do it my way. I want to give it everything I got and see where I’m at. My body feels really good. I’ve had a lot of traumatic injuries over the years, but if things go really smoothly and we win, that’d be great.”

One reason why we could see Brady RETURN for another season is because he’s set to be a free agent in March. The idea of picking the team he gets to play for might be enough to entice him to return for another year. 

No matter what happens this year, one thing we likely won’t see him doing this season is showing up in the broadcast booth for Super Bowl LVII. Although the game is on Fox — and Brady now has a contract with the network — he said he wasn’t interested in being in the booth for the game, even if the Buccaneers have been eliminated. 

“No. I want to focus on football,” Brady said when asked if he would think about jumping in the broadcast booth if the Buccaneers didn’t make the playoffs this year. “I really want to commit to this year to be as best as I possibly can.”

Brady also revealed that he initially wasn’t even interested in taking the Fox job, which will pay him $375 million over 10 years after he officially starts with the network. 

“Initially, I told them I didn’t want to do it,” Brady said. “There was a lot of different emotions. I couldn’t make the decision from the place where I needed to be. For the first time, I was a free agent in life. It’s different than being a free agent in football when one of 31 teams can come after you.”

Brady will begin his broadcasting career at some point, but it won’t happen until he retires and it certainly would be fitting for him and Fox if his retirement came after a Super Bowl LVII win that airs on Fox.