After 22 seasons, seven Superbowl wins, and arguably the best career of all time, Tom Brady decided to retire on Feb 1… or did he? After five weeks, Tom Brady ended his short retirement with an announcement on Twitter explaining that he is coming back for his 23rd season. 

The extreme longevity of Brady’s career has led to one question constantly being asked: “When will Brady retire?” Brady consistently explained that he would retire sometime past age 45, which is why it was a major surprise when Brady decided to retire at 44 years old. “When it came out that Brady retired, I thought it came out of nowhere because it just seemed like he would play forever,” junior Devlin McCarthy said. 

Brady has done surprising things his whole career. Coming out of Michigan, Brady was not a sought-after prospect. He got drafted by the New England Patriots in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft to play the role of a backup quarterback, and probably never would have touched the field if it was not for the injury of Drew Bledsoe. Bledsoe was the current starter for the Patriots, and he was thought of a top player in his position. When Bledso went down, Brady came in to replace him and never looked back. Brady went on to win the starting job and would go on to win his first Superbowl in 2002. 

After Brady’s short retirement, memorabilia from his games went to extreme heights in value. The auction for Brady’s last touchdown ball turned into a bidding war. Ending Saturday night, the night before he unretired, the ball sold for $518,628. Immediately after Brady unretired, the ball’s value plummeted, and fans wonder whether the buyer will get a refund. “I think it is both funny and unfortunate that the poor fan spent so much money on the ball just for it to be worthless the next day,” junior Josh Mirsky said. 

Before Brady unretired, Vegas had the Buccaneers, the team Brady is on, as 20-1 to win the Superbowl. Immediately after he retired, the odds switched to 10-1 emphasizing how big of an effect Brady has on his team’s success. “I think Tom Brady will go down as the best to ever play a sport professionally; he has such a large and positive impact on every team he plays for,” senior Joey Neustadt said. 

The NFL community is now wondering when Brady will officially retire and what more he will accomplish before he does. The Buccaneers are looking strong to win the Superbowl like they did two seasons ago with Brady, which will cement Brady’s Hall of Fame status even more. “I am excited to see what Brady will do next season, and I wonder how long he will keep up playing like an elite quarterback,” McCarthy said.