Tom Brady

Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson all made decisions that shifted plans around the league and reinforced the value of having a franchise ...

Rodgers’s decision, like Brady’s, maintains the balance of power in the N.F.C. as the Buccaneers and Packers attempt to challenge the Rams’ supremacy. Enter the Broncos, who have failed to find a long-term successor since Peyton Manning’s retirement and have started 11 quarterbacks since 2016. Behind a subpar offensive line, Wilson took plenty of sacks, and had seen most of his teammates from Seattle’s back-to-back Super Bowl appearances in the 2013 and 2014 seasons depart without upgraded replacements. Rodgers led the Packers to a 13-4 season in 2021, and their relationship improved even as chaos from Rodgers’s becoming a cultural lightning rod over his coronavirus vaccination status ensued off the field. A good quarterback has always been the staple of a healthy franchise, but those three cornerstones helped define the 2010s in the league through stellar play for their organizations and continued to do so in the 2020s. Green Bay enters the free agency period with salary cap concerns, but Rodgers’s undisclosed contract renegotiation is expected to free some space for the moves Gutekunst will have to make to re-sign key players. Tom Brady’s return should be a boon for the N.F.L., and the early statistics have already hinted at it. An N.F.L. spokesman declined to comment on marquee games, but Polian said he believed it was inevitable that the Buccaneers might feature prominently in night games during the 2022 season. They included, Rodgers said, the organization not including him in managerial decisions, his perceived mistreatment from the Packers toward former teammates and his not being utilized to recruit free agents. The Denver Broncos also planned to trade for Russell Wilson, a nine-time Pro Bowl selection who spent 10 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. Less than two months after he ended his 22-season N.F.L. career, Brady, 44, reversed course Sunday night by announcing on social media that he would return to the league and to Tampa Bay. After Brady’s first announcement, with its franchise centerpiece departed, Tampa Bay looked like it would need to rebuild to stand a chance of competing.

All right. If you listen closely, you may still be able to hear champagne corks popping in Tampa, Fla. And that's because Buccaneer fans there are celebrating ...

GOLDMAN: Implying he lied is harsh and probably not true because clues of a conflicted Tom Brady were there. The Twitter reaction was fast and furious and funny, from the Brady lovers, who posted GIFs of people crying and wailing, representing the reaction of Brady's upcoming opponents - to Brady haters, who posted stuff like this from a "Star Wars" video game. TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Tom Brady made his announcement on Twitter, saying, these past two months, I've realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands.

A quick exchange with Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo was enough to fuel speculation that Tom Brady might not really be retiring from the NFL.

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