A Tom Brady retirement party at Super Bowl 52? Not so fast.
Brady has repeatedly said that he has no intent to retire. He claims he wants to play football into his mid-40s, and after an MVP-caliber season in 2017, there isn’t much reason to believe that he’s ready to step away from the game.
Still, there have been a number of high-profile players who have hoisted the Lombardi Trophy and gracefully hung up their cleats. Peyton Manning elected to wait until March after winning his last Super Bowl to retire, but Jerome Bettis stood on the podium in his hometown of Detroit with the Lombardi Trophy in hand and announced he was retiring.
The temptation for Brady to announce that this is it could be huge, especially if the Patriots win their record-tying sixth Super Bowl. As a result, the oddsmakers at BetDSI.eu expect their prop on whether Brady announces his retirement following Super Bowl 52 to be one of the most bet upon Super Bowl props of the year.
Will Tom Brady Announce Retirement After Super Bowl 52?
Yes +1200
No -2500
Why Tom Brady Announces Retirement at Super Bowl 52
Brady isn’t dumb. He managed to successfully do what Brett Favre couldn’t – outlast the man who was drafted to take his place.
The Patriots sent Jimmy Garoppolo to the 49ers midseason in exchange for a second-round draft choice, effectively cementing Brady’s place as New England’s starting quarterback for at least a reasonably foreseeable future if that’s how he chooses to proceed.
But let’s remember that there is going to be a point that Father Time wins the battle against Brady. Peyton Manning looked like he was unstoppable when he threw an NFL-record 55 touchdowns in 2013 and led the Broncos to the Super Bowl against Seattle. However, the Seahawks ate Manning’s lunch in that game while blowing Denver out, and Manning was never the same.
The next season, “The Sheriff” threw for 39 touchdowns, but he didn’t quite look right in a Divisional playoff loss to Andrew Luck and the Colts. In 2015, the Broncos won the Super Bowl in spite of the fact that Manning was a decrepit old fart, throwing just nine touchdowns against 17 picks while spending some time on the bench in favor of Brock Osweiler.
Brady can’t possibly want to see this happen to himself. He looked like he had taken his first steps towards retirement in 2015 in the last Manning vs. Brady battle, but he has stormed back with two superb seasons that are both ending with trips to the Super Bowl.
Only Brady knows how much he really has left in the tank, but he’ll probably know when it’s really time to go.
Why Tom Brady Won’t Announce Retirement at Super Bowl 52
There’s a reason why you’ll only get paid $0.04 on your dollar if you want to bet against Brady announcing his retirement immediately after Super Bowl 52.
With Garoppolo now out of the way, Brady doesn’t have any reason to look over his shoulder, nor does he have a reason to try to force himself out of Beantown. He’s New England’s starting quarterback in 2018 whether anyone in the organization likes it or not, and even if the Pats do draft his successor this year, it’s unlikely they’re going to take a guy who is ready to play before 2019 or 2020.
But most importantly, Brady wants to leave zero doubt whatsoever that he isn’t just the best quarterback of all time, but the best football player of all time. His goal is to set the bar so high that no one could possibly reach it in his lifetime, and even after snaring six rings in eight trips to the Super Bowl, he won’t be satisfied.
