Report: Tampa Bay Buccaneers not closing the door on Tom Brady return in 2022

All 32 teams in the NFL were stunned when Tom Brady announced his retirement. However, only one team has to replace him — and it’s a tall task for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Multiple options are being considered. Still, Brady is the type of quarterback that’s impossible to replicate. As Super Bowl Sunday dawns on the league, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero provided an update on the future of the Buccaneers — and Brady.

“The Buccaneers are leaving the door open for Tom Brady in case the legendary quarterback changes his mind on retirement, and sources say they would do whatever is necessary for him to return — a possibility Brady himself isn’t completely ruling out,” reported Rapoport and Pelissero.

After all the fanfare and everything that surrounded Brady’s announcement, it’d be shocking to see him come out of retirement. Still, the Seven-time Super Bow champion knows he can still play with the best, as he finished second in MVP voting for the 2021-22 season.

At the least, it’s evident the rumors surrounding Tom Brady returning to the NFL are already starting. Time will tell if one of the greatest competitors of all time is able to keep the cleats hung up.

Brady on coming out of retirement: ‘Never say never’

Furthermore, Tom Brady himself isn’t ruling out the possibility of coming out of retirement. Asked by Jim Gray on his Sirius XM podcast, the legendary quarterback said he doesn’t see himself changing his mind, but isn’t definitively saying it won’t happen.

“You know, I’m just gonna take things as they come,” Brady said. “I think that’s the best way to put it and I don’t think anything, you know, you never say never. At the same time I know that I’m very, I feel very good about my decision. I don’t know how I’ll feel six months from now, [inaudible] change, it most likely won’t. But I try to make the best possible decision I can in the moment, which I did this last week. And, again, I think it’s not looking to reverse course, I’m definitely not looking to do that. But in the same time I think you have to be realistic that you never know what challenges there are gonna be in life. Again, I loved playing. I’m looking forward to doing things other than playing.”

Should Tom Brady come out of retirement, he wouldn’t be the first legendary quarterback to do so. Green Bay Packers star Brett Favre announced he would retire following the 2007 season, but found himself back the next year.

Although Brady seems adamant about his decision in the present, no one can see what the future holds. Either way it was a phenomenal career for the Michigan product, who will go down in history as one of the greatest to ever play.