On January 16, quarterback Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were trounced by the Dallas Cowboys in a 31-14 beatdown in the NFL playoffs Wild Card round. It appeared to be the final game of Brady’s legendary career, and that was confirmed on February 1 when he announced his retirement in an Instagram post.

This was the second time Brady retired, following in the footsteps of Michael Jordan. Exactly one year earlier on February 1, 2022, the quarterback announced a retirement which he ended just 40 days later, proclaiming he had unfinished business in the NFL. This recent retirement seemed more legitimate than last year’s, but…

There’s just something about the greatest athletes of all time and not wanting to quit. On Monday’s episode of NFL Network’s The Rich Eisen Show, host Rich Eisen shared a rumor he’d been hearing in the football world:

“This one just blew my mind: Tom Brady might not be done after all. A couple people were just like, ‘Hang on, just you wait.’ And I was like, ‘He’s Instagramming out pictures of his cat.’ But it doesn’t look like he’s getting big and fat, does it? Let it play out. Let’s see who wants what.”

If this rumor that Brady is considering abandoning his retirement for a second time, the NFL landscape could be changed. Why? It may be a return to the league, but not necessarily to Tampa Bay.

Brady Taking His Talents to South Beach

“The one place that folks are saying to keep an eye out for is Miami,” Rich Eisen went on to say. “If the Dolphins, somehow or someway get a doctor’s report or piece of information from a medical evaluation of Tua that he may not be ready to go, and suddenly there’s Tom Brady sitting in Florida, where his family is located and where he can easily locate himself.”

Brady going to play with the Miami Dolphins is not exactly a brand new rumor; such gossip was making its way through the NFL world in 2022. But for that to come true in the context of Brady’s second retirement… it’d be a whole different animal.

Tom going to Miami would mean he returns to the AFC East, a division in which he spent his entire career before going to Tampa, but with the New England Patriots instead. It was in New England that Brady formed the aura of greatness around his name. For him to square off against his former team and coach twice a season would be an intense, spectacular sight. Those games might rival the Super Bowl in their viewership numbers.

But of course, we have to keep in mind that these are all rumors as of now. Eisen did not name the sources of this information, so we are currently unaware of their reliability. In addition, Tom already responded to Eisen by tweeting, “Anyone who thinks I have time to come back to the NFL has never adopted a 2 month old kitten for their daughter.”

But if his incredible comebacks on the field taught us anything, it’s that it’s never wise to rule out Tom Brady.

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