Is Tom Brady retired or not? The league has received his official paperwork, but this week, a new rumor has surfaced saying that the GOAT would be open to returning to the field in 2023 if the right situation were available. Add Colin Cowherd to the list of people that have heard the rumor.
“Somebody I trust outside of this building at FOX told me a couple of weeks ago, they said, ‘I don’t think Brady’s going to be a broadcaster any time soon. I think he wants to play,'” Cowherd revealed on his FOX Sports Radio show on Tuesday.
Before the start of the 2022 season, Tom Brady and FOX agreed to a ten-year deal worth $375 million. It would put Brady in the network’s top broadcast booth and make him a brand ambassador for FOX Sports.
After announcing his retirement from the NFL in February, Brady decided to take a year off before starting his deal with FOX. Cowherd wondered if the delay has to do with Brady knowing he still has something to offer a team.
“Brady set records last year, a couple of different records,” he said. “I think it was attempts and completions at 45 years old. So, a lot of people limped to the end. Elway didn’t. Roger Staubach didn’t, Derek Jeter didn’t. Kobe scored 61 in his last game as a Laker. Brady can still sling it.”
Cowherd added that because an ideal situation exists in San Francisco, the team Tom Brady grew up rooting for, the rumors cannot be dismissed.
Plenty of people in the broadcast industry have remarked that Tom Brady will become the most scrutinized person on sports television the second he steps into the FOX booth. He brings more star power than any other NFL analyst does or could.
Certainly, the network is willing to wait to take advantage of that, but it is likely that if Brady is not joining the network until 2024, there are plenty of FOX executives that would rather see him taking practice reps in the booth instead of on the field.
