Tom Brady is breaking down his shock decision to un-retire from the NFL after just six weeks.
In a new interview with ESPN, Brady spoke about his March announcement that he'd return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, even though he'd just announced his retirement weeks earlier.
"I knew my body, physically, could still do what it could do and obviously I have a love for the game, I think I'll always have a love for the game," Brady said.
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The former New England Patriots star spent time with his wife and kids in the weeks after his retirement. But he says it didn't take long before he started feeling he should get back on the field, and he pointed to the way the season ended. His supposedly final game ended up being a 30-27 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
"Last year was a very bitter ending to a season and we've got to make a lot of corrections to try to improve and put ourselves in a better position to succeed moving forward," Brady said.
In his retirement announcement in February, Brady said he would no longer make the "competitive commitment" needed to be part of the NFL, and "my teammates, coaches, fellow competitors, and fans deserve 100 percent of me." But after reversing course, he now says that "I do think physically I'll be able to do it" and he "just felt like there was still a place for me on the field."
Brady did acknowledge, though, that he doesn't have "a lot left" in him and he's "at the end of my career."
Earlier on Monday, Brady joked about the reversal while promoting the last episode of the ESPN+ series about him, Man in the Arena — well, last episode "for now," that is. "Sorry if I messed that up with the whole un-retiring thing guys," Brady said.
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