TAMPA, Fla. — Former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady filed paperwork with the NFL and NFL Players Association on Friday to confirm his Feb. 1 retirement, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The letter — which begins processing NFLPA benefits — silences any questions about a potential return and makes him eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2028.
Last offseason, Brady retired for 40 days before announcing his return for a third and final season with the Buccaneers. Brady said after his first retirement that his next one would be for good, and he expressed a desire to move on to new things after 23 seasons in the NFL with seven Super Bowl titles.
Brady recently announced that he will assume his role with Fox Sports as an analyst in 2024.
The fact that this move happened Friday means the Bucs will take the brunt of his $35 million in salary cap dead money in 2023 versus being able to divide it between 2023 and 2024 if they had altered the voidable years in his contract and then waited until after June 1 to process the retirement.
The Bucs are projected to be nearly $60 million over the salary cap, according to the Roster Management System, as they enter free agency starting March 15. Kyle Trask is currently the only Bucs quarterback under contract.