Getty NFL insider Peter King believes Tom Brady will return.
NBC Sports’ Peter King has an “educated hunch” regarding Tom Brady’s NFL future.
Less than a month following Tom Brady’s retirement, the NFL universe still doesn’t believe that this is it for the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback. You can count King as another one of those observers.
According to the NFL insider, he believes Brady will say he wants to play football again in the next year or two.
King stated the following on his latest Football Morning in America column.
“I think, by the way, I will not be surprised if Tom Brady, sometime in the next year or two, says he wants to play football again,” King wrote. “Educated hunch.”
The 22-year veteran concluded his career with one of his best seasons ever. Brady led the league in touchdowns, passing yards and completions while finishing runner-up in MVP voting to the Green Bay Packers‘ Aaron Rodgers.
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GM Licht: We’ll Leave ‘Light on’ for Brady
Since Brady’s retirement, there has been speculation that the veteran quarterback isn’t permanently retired. Some believe he’ll eventually return to play out the final year of his Bucs contract. Others believe he’ll return to force a trade to a potentially more worthwhile contender such as the San Francisco 49ers.
Bucs general manager Jason Licht addressed the speculation of a potential Brady return and did not shut the door on it during an interview on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” on Tuesday, March 1.
“Right now we’re trying to make our plans to move forward, if that’s the case … We’re still in that process right now,” Licht said. “We’ll see what the future holds. Let’s just say we’ll leave the light on. We always leave the light on for a guy like Tom Brady.”
While addressing the media on Tuesday, March 1, head coach Bruce Arians had a similar response to the idea of welcoming Brady back to the fold. However, he doesn’t believe that will actually happen.
Via Rick Stroud of The Tampa Bay Times:
‘“Whenever Tom wants to come back, he’s back,’ Bruce Arians said. “Says they would make it happened. Preciously he said he doesn’t think that will happen however,” said Arians.
Licht: We Want to ‘Compete’ in 2022
The Buccaneers currently only feature 2021 second-round draft pick Kyle Trask as a quarterback under contract entering next season. Tampa Bay could bring back veteran Blaine Gabbert to battle Trask for the starting QB job in 2022.
Despite Tampa Bay’s uncertainty at the quarterback position following Brady’s retirement, Licht still believes the Bucs have a chance to win again this year.
“We still feel like we have a chance to win this year,” Licht said. “It just depends on how the puzzle fits together. We wanna win this year, we wanna compete this year for the title, but we also wanna keep our eye on the future, too. We don’t wanna mortgage too much too soon. It’s just gonna depend on what the market bears.”
We’ll see what the future holds for Brady, but the Bucs will have to find a franchise quarterback rather than hoping for a possible comeback from the 44-year-old veteran.