Tom Brady will technically retire as a champion considering this year’s Super Bowl is still weeks away, and while he only played seven games in his career against Washington’s football team (4-2 in the regular season, 1-0 in the playoffs), he was a player in Washington politics over the past few years.
The 7-time Super Bowl winning quarterback and sure-fire hall of famer will retire after 22 seasons, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington and The Boston Globe, citing unnamed sources.
His friendship with former President Trump thrust Brady into the Beltway spotlight during Trump’s first campaign for President, and his joke last year over his friend’s 2020 election denial brought laughter at Trump’s expense.
Brady was seen with Trump’s iconic red MAGA hat in his locker two months after Trump announced his candidacy, and Brady appeared to endorse Trump soon thereafter, only to later say his words were taken out of context.
In 2017, after Trump won the presidency, Brady said his comments about NFL players protesting police brutality and inequality were “divisive” and that he disagreed with Trump saying that players who were kneeling should be fired. Earlier that year, Brady skipped out on visiting the White House for a celebration of his Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots, citing “personal family matters.”
And last year, after Brady moved to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and helped them win the Super Bowl, Brady mocked Trump’s lie about winning the 2020 presidential election.
“Not a lot of people think that we could have won. In fact, I think about 40% of people still don’t think we won. You understand that, Mr. President?” Brady said to the laughing crowd.
“I understand that,” President Biden replied.
And while Brady may no longer lead a 4th quarter comeback — again — and be one of the NFL’s most polarizing stars, he could still be a political player. During a 2005 interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” he said he had an interest in politics and would consider running for office in the future if he was still interested in it.
“If that chance does come up, and I’m still interested in it, I mean it would be something that I think I could do a decent job at,” he said. “When you think about things you like to do, you think about things that you could be good at, and that’s one thing I think I could be good at. Whether I do it or not, I don’t know. Who does?”
