Sportsnaut
For years, the world wondered when Tom Brady would hang up his cleats and retire from the NFL. After seven Super Bowl rings across 23 seasons, Brady finally walked away in 2022. Yet, some wondered if the then-45-year-old was actually done.
Yet, nearly three full seasons have gone by, and Brady has somehow managed to avoid unretiring from playing in the NFL. Having a pretty cush gig as an NFL commentator for Fox Sports surely helps. It likely also helps that he’s a partial owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, and NFL rules prevent athletes from being both an owner and a player at the same time.
Nevertheless, last week Philip Rivers made waves for returning to the NFL after four full seasons (over 1,800 days) of being a high school head coach. Of course, Rivers is only 44, whereas Brady is now 48 years old.
Yet, Brady still feels like he could do what Rivers is currently doing; only, TB12 feels like he could perform much better under the right conditions. So, what are those conditions?
During a recent appearance on The Big Podcast with Hall of Fame NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, Brady revealed that he would still be able to “dominate” the NFL. Though he feels he’d need roughly a month to train before he could do so.
So, what would it take for Brady to return as Rivers did? Brady says he wouldn’t want to play a full 17-game season ever again. Yet, when asked if he could just return for the playoffs, or as it was proposed to him, for “the Finals,” then Brady would say yes.
Tom Brady on if he can still play in the NFL:
“I’d whoop a** right now… Give me a month.”
NEW episode ft. @TomBrady here: https://t.co/WRbPVUmmfU pic.twitter.com/4vHeTZcr6X
— The Big Podcast (@bigpodwithshaq) December 17, 2025
Those are some oddly specific terms. So specific that it’s hard to imagine Brady ever returning to the gridiron. After all, if a team is good enough to reach the playoffs without him, how could they be so sure that starting Brady for the Super Bowl would be the right call? Plus, if he needs a month to train, he’d pretty much have to start working in the playoffs.
Ultimately, there are a lot of factors preventing Brady from getting back on the field, and his advanced age is certainly one of them.
Related: Indianapolis Colts Connected to Trade for Thriving Former First-Round QB
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