The NFL will not be the same next season. After 23 years, the league will not have Tom Brady. The legendary quarterback decided to finish his brilliant career after a complicated 2021 both on and off the field.
Brady walks away from the gridiron as the greatest quarterback of all time, with more Super Bowl rings than any other player in football history. With his retirement, the attention starts to switch to a younger generation of quarterbacks.
However, there are still a few great veteran quarterbacks out there. Aaron Rodgers is one of them, though nobody knows whether he’s coming back to the Packers. While his future sparks all kinds of rumors, Brady just hopes the 4x MVP continues to play football.
Tom Brady doesn’t want Aaron Rodgers to retire
“You know what, I hope he doesn’t retire,” Brady said in the latest episode of his Let’s Go! podcast, via ProFootballTalk. “Because like I said, I think the league needs good quarterbacks and he’s one of the greats. So if he retires it’ll be a sad day for the league.
“He’s an incredible player and everyone has their different processes they go through,” Brady added. “And you know what, I think we all need to get off our phone a little bit more. I think we all need to get away from the TV a little bit more. I think we all need a little more nature and a little more silence and a little more peace. And however he’s going about it, good for him.
“Everyone’s got their unique way to process the season,” Brady said on Rodgers’ darkness retreat to contemplate about his future. “It’s very intense for all of us and everyone gets to choose what they want to do. But certainly from the standpoint of him leaving the game the way that he’s playing, he broke his thumb this year and still played tremendous. And you could see as he got healthy throughout the year how incredibly talented he is. So I hope the good players keep playing. That’s what my hope is. That’s what I tried to do. And now you hope that the next generation does that and I hope they have the tools necessary to do that.
"I was very fortunate to work with a guy [in] Alex [Guerrero], who is my best friend, a brother to me and taught me so much. I hope these other guys like Patrick [Mahomes] can play a long time. And Jalen [Hurts] can play a long time. And Josh [Allen] and Joe Burrow and these tremendous players that bring so much. That’s why we watch, not because of the color of the jerseys, because of the players in the jerseys.”
Brady’s retirement already means a huge blow for the league, so losing another legend is the last thing the sport needs. Of course, there will always be newer generations and, right now, there already are many signal-callers destined to write history. Still, it would be nice to see Rodgers on the field for a bit longer.
