Matt Mathias

Sports Editor

mcm5909@psu.edu

It’s official, Tom Brady will be returning to play his 23rd season in the National Football League with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brady’s retirement lasted all but 40 days. Brady took to Twitter to explain his decision to return to the field once more.

“These past two months I’ve realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands. That time will come, but it’s not now,” Brady announced. “I love my teammates, and I love my supportive family. They make it all possible. I’m coming back for my 23rd season in Tampa. Unfinished business LFG.”

Brady’s success in the NFL up to this point in his career is unrivaled. He won six Super Bowls with Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots over a span of 20 years and won another with Tampa Bay just two short years ago. Even last year in his 22nd season, Brady led the league in passing yards with 5,316, touchdowns with 43, completions with 485, and attempts with 719. In other words, Brady certainly has some gas left in the tank.

The Bucs were ecstatic to welcome Brady back out of retirement. The announcement came on Sunday night just before free agency began on monday. Brady returning was sure to bait potential free agents into joining the team for the upcoming season. Tampa general manager Jason Licht that the return of Brady was something that the team had actually been preparing for. “Bruce and I have had plenty of conversations with Tom recently that led us to believe that there was a realistic chance he would want to come back,” Licht said in a statement. “Tom is the greatest quarterback of all time who is still playing at an elite level. With this decision now made, we will continue to move forward with our offseason plans to reload this roster for another championship run.”

On the other hand, this news of Brady’s return comes day after an auction occurred where a buyer purchased the ball used on Brady’s last career touchdown pass to wide receiver Mike Evans. The sale in total was $518,000, quite a fortune to pay for what will certainly not be Brady’s final touchdown pass of his career. It seems there is novelty in the uniqueness of this purchase, but who knows if the value will rise or decline in the years to come.

In the meantime, the Bucs have secured offensive weapons Fournette and Godwin for the next few years giving each of them three-year contracts. The status of Brady’s longtime friend and teammate, Rob Gronkowski, is still up in the air as he has stated that his commitment to playing in the NFL will not be tied to Brady playing or not. They also re-signed a key offensive lineman in Ryan Jensen just hours after Brady’s announcement.

In the end, Brady’s return to football comes at a surprise to some, but also not to many. Brady just seems to be getting better with age like a fine wine. He is the NFL’s leader in career passing yards with 84,520 and touchdowns with 624. He is the only NFL player to ever have won more than five Super Bowls, being MVP of the big game five times. He has been league MVP on three separate occasions and has been selected to the Pro Bowl 15 times in his career. His record as a starting quarterback is 243-73 with a record of 35-12 in the playoffs. Brady is indisputably the greatest of all time and this upcoming season will only bolster his status as a legend for generations to come.