Tom Brady: Family Will Play Big Role in Deciding Future

Tom Brady isn’t retiring yet, but he’s also not committing to playing either.

Brady indicated Monday that family will play a substantial role in determining whether he will return to play next season.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers 44 year old QB spoke to Jim Gray about how he’ll make his decision, for Tom it’s simple, it’s all about his family.

“I think as I’ve gotten older, I think the best part is, is football is extremely important in my life, and it means a lot to me, and I care a lot about what we’re trying to accomplish as a team and I care a lot about my teammates,” Brady said on his “Let’s Go!” podcast with Jim Gray. “The biggest difference now that I’m older is I have kids now, too, you know, and I care about them a lot as well. They’ve been my biggest supporters. My wife is my biggest supporter. It pains her to see me get hit out there. And she deserves what she needs from me as a husband, and my kids deserve what they need from me as a dad.

“I’m gonna spend some time with them and give them what they need, ’cause they’ve really been giving me what I need the last six months to do what I love to do. I said this a few years ago, it’s what relationships are all about. It’s not always what I want. It’s what we want as a family. And I’m gonna spend a lot of time with them and figure out in the future what’s next.”

Brady said because of his competitiveness he felt he couldn’t take everything in Sunday, in the event it was his last game.

“I would say I’m proud and satisfied of everything we accomplished this year, so I know when I give it my all, that’s something to be proud of,” Brady said. “And I’ve literally given everything I had this year, last year, the year before that, the year before that. Like, I don’t leave anything half-ass, you know? I think I leave it with everything that I have. My physical being, I work really hard on that. I feel like I give everything I can to my teammates. Although, it is divided attention as you get older, ’cause there’s different priorities and responsibilities in life. And, you know, I have things happening outside of football that require some time and energy.

“Every year I just have to make sure that I have the ability to commit to what the team really needs, and that’s really important to me. The team doesn’t deserve anything less than my best. And if I feel like I’m not committed to that, or I can’t play at a championship level, then you gotta give someone else a chance to play. And, you know, we’ll see. There’s a long time between now and the start of next football season. I’ve gotta really figure those things out, which is probably natural for anyone. And at the same time, I would say this, we never know what’s gonna happen in the future. We really don’t. I mean, Kobe Bryant, a friend of ours, God rest his soul. You think you’re gonna live forever. We’re not. We think we’re gonna play forever. We’re not. What can we do? We can enjoy the moments that we have.

“As challenging as the season was, I was glad I played and glad I participated, ’cause I’m living my life and I’m not just counting the days. So my days are meaningful to me. I’m gonna try to keep ’em meaningful to me. And, you know, in the meantime I’m gonna do as best I can to enjoy, you know, the time that I have not playing football. ‘Cause that’s equally important. Playing football I get so much joy from. I love it. But not playing football, there’s a lot of joy in that for me also now, too, with my kids getting older and seeing them develop and grow. So all these things need to be considered and they will be. And, you know, the funny part is always that most guys retire and then move to Florida. I’m already in Florida. So it’s really confusing, even to me.”

Tom is too competitive to walk away from the game on a Loss. There’s no way he’s going to carry that feeling with him forever.

Tom still wants that story book ending, and if anyone can pull it off, it’s the GOAT.

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