* Most prominent athletes, let along a GOAT, don’t want to leave the lucrative center stage of admiration, if not adoration, that had defined them. Tom Brady is no exception. But he’s also no Joe Namath or Johnny Unitas, who hung around too long because they could still command serious money and would still be in the public eye. But their skills had eroded and their image was compromised.
Tom Brady knows the reality of the 2022 version of the Buccaneers. It won’t be the same team. No Super Bowl talk. Too many important players can leave via free agency or just retirement. The coaching staff could also hit a reset button. Brady, 44, can now retire after a season in which he led the league in touchdowns and passing yardage. And careerwise–spanning 22 seasons–nobody can touch his numbers. He’s won Super Bowls in three different decades, including the one last year that proved he could do it away from New England and outside the tutelage of Bill Belichick There is nothing more to prove other than the value and viability of priorities off the football field.
Brady goes out on top with his numbers, health, looks, fame, wealth and complementary business pursuits and stays an icon—one with a celebrity lifestyle that will be more inclusive of his wife and three kids. This isn’t putting a GOAT out to pasture. This is a final football act, the likes of which are rarely orchestrated so well.
* St. Petersburg native–and Northeast High grad–Danielle Collins made it to the finals of the Australian Open, where she lost to Ash Barty, the world’s number one-ranked player. Collins is now ranked in the top 10—and is currently the highest ranking American on tour.