Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady defied age and played 23 NFL seasons, featuring for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers one last time in 2023. He played his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots and the last three seasons with the Buccaneers. He first announced his retirement in February 2022 (after 22 seasons), but returned for one final season before officially stepping away in February 2023.
Recently, while discussing Aaron Rodgers’ potential retirement after playing the 2025 season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Brady shed light on his own final season. His final season was “tough” as his divorce from Gisele Bundchen was finalized in October of that year, as the 13-year marriage came to an end. Because of this, Brady acknowledged that it was this reason that he couldn’t play at a high level.
“Yeah, I was, you know, my last season was tough,” Brady said. “I was going through a lot, just a personal family issue, and it was a challenge. And it was a very, you know, it just took a lot out of me in terms of my ability to continue to play. And I, you know, I had 23 years of it, so I didn’t feel like I was missing anything by retiring.”
Brady also mentioned that since he wanted to spend more time with his children, it was best that he call time on his career at the age of 45.
“I felt like, okay, this time, my goal was always 45,” Brady added. “I was 45 years old. I wanted to spend time with my kids. I felt like, okay, now it’s time for me to be at all my kids’ games. You know, they’ve been to enough of their dad’s games.”
How Tom Brady Performed In his Final NFL season?
One year after conquering Super Bowl LV, Tom Brady wanted to chase another Super Bowl. In the process, he lost his connection with his wife Gisele, who partly blamed Brady’s decision to continue playing behind their separation.
After reversing his decision of retirement to play one final season, Brady led the Bucs to an 8-9 season, his only losing record season in the NFL. Still, the Bucs went to the playoffs because they won the NFC South. In 17 regular season games, Brady completed 66.8% of his passes for 4,694 passing yards, 25 passing touchdowns against nine interceptions. Brady also set single-season NFL records for both most completions (490) and most pass attempts (733) in league history.
However, in the playoffs, Brady’s Bucs were defeated 31-14 by the Dallas Cowboys. In the final game of his career, the quarterback completed 35 of 66 passes for 351 yards, with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.
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