Tom Brady Has Millions of Reasons to Wait Until Next Weekend to Announce His Retirement

On Saturday Adam Schefter and ESPN reported that Tom Brady was retiring after 22 seasons in the NFL.  His agent and father both denied those claims saying Brady hadn't made up his mind yet.

A call from Brady was reportedly placed to the Bucs front office telling them the same thing.  A detail in Brady's contract gives him 15 million reasons to not announce his retirement before February 4th.

Brady is due $15 million of his $20 million signing bonus on February 4th.  If he retires before that date he would give up that deferred payment.

From FOX Business:

Brady initially signed a two-year contract with the Buccaneers before the start of the 2020 season. He would later sign a one-year extension through the 2022 season with three voided years for salary cap purposes. The contract included a no-trade clause and a no-franchise or transition tag clause.

According to Spotrac, $15 million of Brady’s $20 million signing bonus was deferred to Feb. 4, 2022. If Brady retires before Friday, he will give up the bonus money. Should Brady decide to continue to the 2022 season, Spotrac notes his entire salary would be guaranteed but voided if he decides to retire.

Bottom line, Brady could still be planning to retire.  He just won't be making an announcement before next Friday.

It's also possible Schefter preemptively reported Brady's retirement and he actually hasn't made up his mind yet.  We will see.