Tom Brady, one of the most well-known football players of all time, announced his retirement from his career as an NFL player on his social media platforms on Feb. 1.
Brady has played a total of twenty-two seasons as the starting quarterback with the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“Brady’s retirement definitely came as a surprise and something I was not expecting at all,” said junior Erin Hare.
Before Brady officially announced this news to the public, many speculations were made that left the public questioning if this news is completely true. People began to believe that this information could have possibly been leaked or that it is simply just not true.
Many students considered the news to be true since credited sports channels such as ESPN posted about Brady’s retirement 4 days prior to Brady’s official announcement on Jan. 29.
“Once I saw ESPN post about it, I immediately believed it, even though it didn’t come from Brady himself,” said junior Haley Sullivan.
As these speculations started to increase, Brady’s father, Tom Brady Sr., made a statement on Twitter that said Brady will not be retiring.
Some students refused to believe the speculations being made in consideration of the tweet Brady’s father posted.
“The term semantics could be used here because we really did not know what was true since the statement was not coming from Tom himself,” said sophomore Molly Jacob.
After Brady’s official statement, many people were sincerely surprised to hear that he will officially retire from his career.
“Brady never seemed like the player who was going to stop until he was all out of steam so to hear that he was done so out of the blue was shocking,” said Hare.
On the other hand, others saw Brady’s retirement to come soon before he made his official statement.
“He is going to have so many more opportunities to do things with his life. Even if he doesn’t want to do anything else, he doesn’t have to. He’s set for life and will forever be the greatest of all time,” said senior Nick Garritano.
Brady has taken home seven Super Bowl wins and has such a large title to his name.
Many students believed it would have been nice for Brady to go for another super bowl win before retiring.
“I think it would have been iconic for Brady to retire after a Super Bowl win instead of after being eliminated,” said sophomore Jessica Zarilli.
Although it is believed that he would have wanted another win on his back, Brady still holds seven Super Bowl wins.
“I do think he wanted another super bowl win, but he already has 7 so I think he can retire whenever he wants as the best athlete to ever play a professional sport,” said sophomore Jack Sullivan.
For some football fans, Brady holds a huge legacy and impact to the NFL.
“There comes a time to hang up the cleats and I think Tom Brady knew he was ready,” said Jacob. “There is no one more mentally strong than him, and I give him so much respect for all that he has accomplished.”