Tom Brady's heart was a bit deflated by the NFL's response to his offer to un-retire. Three years after concluding his 23-season career in the NFL, the former quarterback revealed that he's considered returning to the sport once more, but the league wasn't in favor of his pitch.
The reason? Tom is currently a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders. "I actually have inquired, and they don't like that idea very much," the 48-year-old told CNBC in an interview published on March 26. "We explored a lot of different things, and I'm very happily retired. Let me just say that, too."
Indeed, Tom's ownership stake in the Raiders would create an issue as the NFL currently has a policy in place that prohibits active players or league employees from taking equity in a team. An NFL spokesperson also emphasized another problem with the situation, telling CNBC, "There would be salary cap issues involving a player/owner."
But if Tom was serious about making a comeback, he could sell his ownership stake in the Raiders. And the idea isn't totally outlandish considering the former New England Patriots quarterback—who shares kids Benjamin, 16, and Vivian, 13, with ex-wife Gisele Bündchen, as well as Jack, 18, with ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynahan—walked back his retirement announcement once before.
In February 2022, Tom announced he would retire before deciding weeks later he would actually be returning for another season, sharing that he knew he simply wasn't ready to be done. "At that point, I decided to talk with my family and I said, 'I think I wanna do this one more time if you guys will support that,'" the seven-time Super Bowl winner—who played 20 seasons for the Patriots before concluding his career with three seasons for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers—told Complex in April 2022. "And my wife was so supportive of it and she said, 'Look, I want you to be happy. I want you to enjoy it and go out there and win.'"
Tom—who divorced Gisele in October 2022—added, "Ultimately, that’s why I came back, to win. There’s only one reason to play for me at this point in my career. And that’s to win."
However, it doesn't seem the pro athlete is interested in putting on the uniform this time around, as he’s been fully embracing his “strategic advisory role” for the Raiders. "My phone call is always available to everybody who needs it," he told CNBC. "I want to see everyone succeed, be their best, bring a winning kind of a culture to Las Vegas—to bring the Raiders back to glory. I’d love to be a part of it."
And though Tom recently joked that he’d easily “whoop ass right now” if he returned to the game, he also emphasized that he wasn’t ready to commit to a full NFL schedule and would prefer to spend time with his kids. "What I wouldn’t want to do is make the commitment to play," Tom told Shaquille O’Neal and Adam Lefkoe on The Big Podcast with Shaq in December. "That takes a lot of training and it’s like I don’t want to do that anymore.”
