Tom Brady announces retirement 'for good' from NFL in video
BOSTON – Former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady announced on Wednesday that he is retiring from the NFL "for good."
One year after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback announced his first retirement, which was short lived, he tweeted that he is calling it a career.
"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. So, I won't be long winded, you only get one super emotional retirement essay and I used mine up last year," Brady said in a brief video. "So really, thank you guys so much to every single one of you for supporting me, my family, my friends, teammates, my competitors, I could go on forever, there's too many."
The 7-time Super Bowl champion ends his career with 89,214 yards, 649 passing touchdowns, and three league MVPs.
Related: Where Tom Brady stands in record books
Last year Brady signed a 10-year deal with FOX Sports for $375 million to join their NFL coverage. It is not clear if Brady will be in the booth when FOX airs the Super Bowl February 12.
"So really, thank you guys so much to every single one of you for supporting me, my family, my friends, teammates, my competitors, I could go on forever, there's too many," Brady said. "Thank you guys for allowing me to live my absolute dream. I wouldn't change a thing. Love you all."
Universally considered the greatest quarterback to ever play the game, Brady retires as the NFL's all-time leader in Super Bowl wins, passing touchdowns, passing yards, and completions. His 286 victories -- regular season and postseason combined -- are the most of all time.
A seven-time Super Bowl champion, five-time Super Bowl MVP, and three-time NFL MVP, Brady essentially authored three separate Hall of Fame careers.
From 2001-07, he won three Super Bowls and four AFC championships, throwing 197 touchdowns and 86 interceptions in the regular season while leading the Patriots to an 86-24 record. He also went 14-3 in the playoffs during that time, throwing 26 touchdowns and 12 touchdowns.
After suffering a torn ACL and missing essentially the entire 2008 season, Brady went 73-23 from 2009-14, throwing 195 touchdowns and 57 interceptions in the regular season. The playoff success took a hit, with Brady and the Patriots going 4-5 in the postseason from 2009-13 and losing Super Bowl XLVI in 2011. But in 2014, Brady threw 10 touchdowns and four interceptions en route to winning his first Super Bowl in a decade.
That was just the start of a late-career renaissance for Brady. He led the league in touchdown passes in 2015 at the age of 38, kicking off a stretch of going 83-26 with 232 touchdowns and 60 interceptions in the regular season. In the playoffs, he went 14-4 with the Patriots and Bucs, winning three more Super Bowls and reaching a fourth, throwing 33 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in those 18 games.
He led the NFL in passing yards and passing touchdowns at the age of 44, and he led the NFL in completions at age 45, capping an incredible post-40 run of success that nobody had ever achieved before and nobody is likely to do ever again.
