Don't Dismiss Tom Brady Returning To NFL Because He's Wavering | Armando Salguero

So now Tom Brady is thinking about retirement the same way he thought about throwing those myriad option routes he completed during his 23-year NFL career. Maybe he goes here, maybe he goes there.

Maybe he continues his post-career life. Maybe he unretires – again. 

Or maybe he simply doesn't know what he's doing.

That's the picture Brady is painting by publicly floating the idea of playing again after sitting out all of 2023 while being, you guessed it, retired.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - FEBRUARY 10: Tom Brady attends Michael Rubin's Fanatics Super Bowl party at the Marquee Nightclub at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on February 10, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Brady ‘Not Opposed’ To Return

Brady said after his second retirement that it was "for good" this time. But the same guy this week didn't sound at all dismissive about returning to the NFL (again). 

He was asked if he'd consider taking calls from teams interested in getting him back on the field late in the season for a playoff push.

"I'm not opposed to it," Brady said on the DeepCut podcast released on Thursday. "I don't know if they're gonna let me, if I become an owner of an NFL team, but I don't know if -- I don't know, I'm always gonna be in good shape, always be able to throw the ball. So to come in for a little bit, like [Michael Jordan] coming back? I don't know if they'd let me, but I wouldn't be opposed to it."

Good grief.

It's obviously news when the most decorated quarterback in NFL history floats the idea of a comeback from retirement. Fans of the New England Patriots and Las Vegas Raiders lit up social media because Brady mentioned playing for those two teams.

But the absurdity of this is only surpassed by how double-minded Brady seems to be about it. 

Another Unretirement For Brady?

Let's recall that Brady already retired, and a month later unretired – that in 2022. And let's also point out that in the same conversation in which he leaves the door ajar to playing again, he also seemly slams the same door on returning because he's got plans to join the FOX broadcast team.

"My career and all that, that's a thing of the past in my mind," he said. "I was a gladiator out there, and now my time has moved on. Now it's, 'OK, how can I deliver for my next group of teammates?'"

Did he forget he just said he'd be open to giving his football career a new chapter?

The guess here is Brady will not be playing again. But to say that with any certainty is impossible, because the guy clearly vacillates about the possibility.

Even publicly.

Part Time Player Tom Brady?

And this is where it becomes kind of weird:

Playing America's most physical sport requires a soul, body and mind commitment. 

A person that wavers about participating  – even in the same conversation – obviously has kindling desires to play. But probably not the raging blaze commitment that's actually needed. 

There was no question Brady had that roaring fire in his belly during his career. But there are reasons to doubt it's still lit there now.

You need proof that is true beyond seemingly contradictory comments within one conversation?

The context for the whole topic was Brady answering a hypothetical phone call from the San Francisco 49ers late in the season, if they were to need a starting quarterback for a playoff run. 

Double-Minded Tom Brady

That would be a call made amid the crisis of losing starter Brock Purdy to injury late in the season.

That's the scenario in which Brady is "not opposed" to a return. As a part-time solution. A Hail Mary.

What about that suggests Brady would be willing to go through a training camp? And subject his 47-year-old (in August) body to the rigors of regular-season football in September, October, November and December?

Yeah, none of it. 

But, again, don't dismiss the possibility. Because a double-minded man is unstable (and unpredictable) in all he does.