Professional football says farewell to one of its most accomplished quarterbacks of all time.
Tom Brady took to Instagram today to announce his retirement from the NFL after playing for 23 seasons with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, having achieved seven Super Bowl wins during his career.
His legacy in football will never be forgotten, and football fans all over the world are sad to see him finally put down the shoulder pads. But now that he’s formally announced his retirement, what’s next for Brady?
Playing pickleball might be towards the top of the NFL superstar’s to-do list, as he’s already invested in pickleball’s professional level. In October 2022, Tom Brady joined an investment group that will now co own a Major League Pickleball (MLP) expansion team starting this 2023 MLP season.
Brady isn’t the only NFL player that’s getting into pickleball. Many NFL stars such as Patrick Mahomes, Drew Brees, and Larry Fitzgerald are investing money into the MLP, and countless other football players are joining in on the pickleball craze.
Brady’s former teammate and longtime friend, Rob Gronkowski, recently invested in a pickleball facility and restaurant, a popular capital investment trend sparked by pickleball’s meteoric rise in popularity.
Another one of Brady’s former teammates, Julian Edelman, has been an avid pickleball player since his retirement from the NFL back in 2021. Upon hearing about Brady’s retirement, Edelman extended his well wishes to Tom on Twitter along with an invitation for the two to team up once again.
However, this time they’d play together on the pickleball court instead of the football field.
You only get one super emotional reaction to the goat retiring, and I used mine up. So I’ll just say this. Learning from you as a player, teammate, leader, son, brother, and father has been the experience of a lifetime. Love you buddy. ❤️🐐
— Julian Edelman (@Edelman11) February 1, 2023
PS. Pickleball partners? pic.twitter.com/otauEND3Fd
Tom Brady’s track record with retirement leads many to believe that he will likely require something to fill in his need for competitive sports. After retiring exactly one year ago on Feb 1, 2022, Brady quickly returned to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for yet another season in the NFL.
While the sign off in Edelman’s tweet to Brady about being future pickleball partners is anecdotal, there is real potential for Brady to go all in with the racket sport.
It’s evident that Brady’s competitive nature will persist, and pickleball might be just the thing to keep one of football’s greatest athletes happy in retirement.
