In a move that is somehow stunning even after the longest successful career in modern NFL history, the quarterback that everyone loves to hate has announced that he is hanging up his cleats. Tom Brady’s retirement has been a talking point for what seems like, and indeed has been ten or more years, and within the 2010’s decade alone Brady has won three Super Bowls, and been to two others.

Brady’s beginnings as a backup quarterback at Michigan caused him to fall to the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL Draft. This slide in the draft would define Brady as possibly the best comeback quarterback of all time. After Drew Bledsoe suffered a gruesome injury in the 2001 season, Brady took over, and after winning the Super Bowl that same year, Bledsoe never started again.

From there, Brady has won Super Bowls against the Rams twice, the Panthers, the Eagles, the Seahawks, the Falcons, and most recently the Chiefs. Some of Brady’s many NFL records include most games won (243), most games started by a quarterback (361), and most consecutive seasons in the NFL Playoffs by a quarterback (13). 

“He’s just a great player and it’s a shock to see him go,” said Drew Castaneda ‘22 when asked about how much of an impact Brady’s retirement had. “Brady’s been winning up until the very end, and it’s been an amazing thing to watch throughout his whole career”.

It is unclear which quarterback that Brady’s last team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, will start in lieu of Brady’s retirement. The Bucs drafted Kyle Trask in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft, but all signs point to a solution in free agency.