Randy Smith: Mystery Surrounds Brady's Retirement

The GOAT may be hanging up his cleats and helmet after 22 years...or is he? There appears to be a shroud of mystery surrounding the announcement that really didn't come this weekend after talk began to circulate late last week, that the 2021 season would be his last. Tributes starting pouring into media outlets, billboards started going up thanking Tom Brady for his great career. Then, Brady's father insisted that announcing his retirement was premature. He wasn't quite ready to retire.

Other people started weighing in, and as suddenly as the original stories started to leak, there were as many more contradicting the news. Well...which is it? Is Tom Brady going to retire or will he play at least another season? I personally believe he will indeed call it quits. After all, he's 44 years old and even though he can still play and contribute, I could tell watching the playoffs that he may be beginning to slow down a bit.

The man has been blessed beyond measure in his great career. Outside of his seven Super Bowl rings and his career stats, he married model Gisele Bundchen in 2009. They have beautiful children and a large group of his fans blame his wife for the retirement talk. However, the most plausible theory surrounding the report is this: The final episode of Brady's documentary series, "The Man In The Arena" hasn't aired yet on ESPN and according to some, the official announcement will come during the 10th and final episode.

That makes sense to me. There have been reports that Brady wanted to play several more seasons, in fact he may have wanted to play four or five more years so that he could replace George Blanda as the oldest quarterback to ever play in the NFL. Blanda was 48 when he finally decided to retire from the Oakland Raiders after the 1975 season. Here is what Brady should do. He should retire and never take the field again. He should enjoy his beautiful family and spend time with them and leave his legion of fans to remember how great he was when he played. No one wants to see age finally catch up with him. in other words...go out on top.

Football is a rough sport and while Brady has been able to avoid serious injury so far in his career, the older he gets, the more likely he is to be seriously injured. No one wants to see that.

As I have stated many times before, I've never been a fan of Tom Brady, though a couple of years ago I broke down and admitted he was the greatest of all time. (I still have feelings that Johnny Unitas was the greatest but I felt that I should give the devil his due.) 

Tom Brady has been the "face" of the NFL for several years now. He owns practically every career passing record in NFL history and deserves all the accolades that people will direct his way when that official retirement announcement comes, whether it's at a press conference or in episode ten of "The Man In The Arena." Enjoy your retirement GOAT. You deserve it.