The Football-Sized Clues That Tom Brady Was Never Really Retired

Mr. Brady ended his so-called retirement Sunday night when he wrote on social media that they would return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for his 23rd season in the National Football League. He appeared to be Retired for a grand total of 41 days from his Feb. 1 announcement and his March 13 reversal.

It seemed like one of the most severe cases of sports-fueled whiplash in recent memory. The Greatest NFL player ever Retired. Then he unretired. The whims of one guy’s career Outlook transformed an entire industry in one month and then completely transformed it again Barely a month later.

Yet there were football-sized bread crumbs that this moment was coming, and even the Buccaneers didn’t sound particularly surprised.

“We said we would leave all options open for him should he reconsider his retirement and today’s announcement is something we have been preparing for in recent days,” Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht said in a statement Sunday.

One way to understand the Bizarre twists of this Brady drama is through a 300-pound man named Ali Marpet. There are many unusual things about Mr. Marpet, including that he went to Hobart, a small Liberal-arts college, and became a star offensive lineman in the NFL. Another is that Mr. Marpet, 28 years old, recently retired even though they could have made tens of millions more by playing on.

When Mr. Marpet announced his retirement after playing seven years for the Buccaneers, it didn’t take long for the club to act. He Revealed his decision on Feb. 27. Tampa Bay placed him on the list for Retired players on March 9.

Mr. Brady had made his retirement public weeks earlier. After days of reports, speculation and tributes he wrote on Instagram on Feb. 1 that he “always believed the sport of football is an ‘all in’ proposition — if a 100% competitive commitment isn’t there, you won’t succeed.”

“This is difficult for me to write, but here it goes: I am not going to make that competitive commitment anymore,” he wrote.

Yet unlike Mr. Marpet, the Buccaneers never placed Mr. Brady on the list for retired players.

One explanation for that was purely practical. Because of the NFL’s abstruse contracts and salary cap rules, the Buccaneers could defer some of the salary-cap hit from Brady’s contract by waiting until June to place him on the list.

But there was another potential reason: that Mr. Brady wasn’t really Retired.

In the days and weeks after Mr. Brady appeared to walk off into the sunset, Mr. Brady himself was the main reason there was good reason to doubt his own words. While at times he backed up his choice— “I feel very good about my decision,” they said on the Feb. 7 podcast appearance — he also equivocated when he said “never say never.”

“I try to make the best possible decision I can in the moment, which I did this last week,” they said then.

A week later, Mr. Brady went on the podcast again and sounded pleased with his decision. He also didn’t quite make it sound like that decision was final.

“I’m super content and happy with how I feel in my decision,” they said on the Feb. 14 shows. “All you can do is take it day by day.”

By early March, they had blown the door completely wide open. After previously indicating that his decision was about spending more time with his family, he appeared on a radio show and sounded like someone who felt accomplished in that mission. “I’ve done that for the last five weeks,” he said according to the Tampa Bay Times.

“Looking forward to some golf in the next few days and some more family time, and then we’ll figure out where we go from there,” Mr. Brady added.

Throughout all of this, the football world didn’t stand still. While Mr. Brady, who won six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots before adding a seventh with the Buccaneers, hawked clothes and other products on social media, football’s offseason began.

At the NFL Scouting combine on March 1, Tampa Bay Coach Bruce Arians made a couple of things clear. The first was that the team was fully prepared for the possibility that Brady could return any day.

“That door is never closed,” he said. “Whenever Tom wants back, he’s back.”

The second was that Mr. Arians wasn’t entertaining the possibility of Mr. Brady coming back and playing for another franchise. When Mr. Arians was asked if they would consider letting Mr. Brady go to another team, his answer was succinct. “Nope,” Mr. Arians said. “It’s bad business.”

Rumors of Mr. Brady’s potential desire to play elsewhere have been as popular as his highlight reels. He has often been connected to the San Francisco 49ers, his Hometown team from growing up. He has also been linked with the Dolphins, especially after former Miami Coach Brian Flores’ lawsuit described an alleged meeting in 2020 between team owner Stephen Ross and a “prominent quarterback,” that people familiar with the matter say was Mr. Brady.

In the meantime, the NFL’s quarterback Carousel began spinning and the Buccaneers weren’t part of it despite appearing to need a quarterback to replace Mr. Brady. The Denver Broncos traded for Russell Wilson from the Seattle Seahawks. The Washington Commanders got Carson Wentz from the Indianapolis Colts. While Aaron Rodgers decided to stay put in Green Bay, other prominent quarterbacks from Houston’s Deshaun Watson and San Francisco’s Jimmy Garoppolo remained available.

It turned out, Tampa Bay had a good reason not to race into the quarterback market. On Saturday, Mr. Brady shrugged off Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo when Mr. Ronaldo asked Mr. Brady, “You’re finished, right?”

Then, on Sunday night, Mr. Brady said he was coming back.

“These past two months I’ve realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands. That time will come. But it’s not now, ”they wrote on social media. “I love my teammates, and I love my supportive family. They make it all possible. I’m coming back for my 23rd season in Tampa. ”

Mr. Brady is 44 years old, and he will be 45 by the next time the season starts. But after he has spent recent years speaking about his desire to play until he’s 45, the Revelation of his return wasn’t particularly absurd. It was less crazy given that, even though he’s the oldest player in the NFL, he led the league in passing yards and touchdowns this past season before the Buccaneers bowed out in the Divisional round of the Playoffs to the eventual Champion Los Angeles Rams.

Mr. Brady’s announcement also came at a salient moment. The NFL free agency begins this week. It’s a time when players compete over stacks of money — and the most attractive destinations to potentially win the Super Bowl.

Tampa Bay is now one of those destinations. The Buccaneers still have Tom Brady.

Corrections & Amplifications
Russell Wilson was traded from the Seattle Seahawks to the Denver Broncos. An earlier version of this article misstated the trade.

Write to Andrew Beaton at [email protected]