Father reveals more about Tom Brady's retirement

Tom Brady Sr. sounds convinced his son, Tom Brady, meant it when he announced last Wednesday he was retiring as an active player "for good." 

"This has been a really rough six months on his personal life, his family life, and on his football life," Brady Sr. told Mike Greenberg during an appearance on the ESPN Radio "Greeny" program, as shared by Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. "He once said this, he said, 'I’m getting tired of getting hit.' Having played 23 years and he holds the ignominious record of most sacks against in the NFL... and there must be another two or three thousand knockdowns.

"At 45 years of age, you say, 'Hey, do I want to get hit one more time?' The answer’s really nah, I really don’t want to unless everything’s flipping. Unfortunately, it wasn’t clicking this year and I think it was a foregone conclusion." 

Brady has long credited his "TB12 Method" for his ability to continue competing at a playoff level past his 45th birthday which he celebrated in August. 

As NBC Sports' Peter King pointed out in his latest "Football Morning in America" column, Brady played 258 football games and missed none because of an injury across his last 14 seasons. This isn't to say Brady wasn't constantly dealing with physical issues throughout many falls over the past decade or so. 

As Brady Sr. alluded to last week during a different interview and also while speaking with Greenberg, the future Hall of Famer endured new off-the-field challenges in 2022. 

Reports first surfaced on Sept. 1 claiming that Brady and Gisele Bündchen were experiencing marital problems at least somewhat linked with his decision to spend another season playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The two confirmed their divorce after 13 years of marriage on Oct. 28. 

That divorce impacted Brady's emotional and physical states for much of what became his final campaign.  

Back on Jan. 29, 2022, Brady Sr. disputed a story that said the seven-time Super Bowl champion was retiring following the 2021 season. That proud father is no longer hinting Brady will play again as the signal-caller enjoys a bit of a break ahead of making the move to Fox to serve as that network's lead NFL analyst in 2024: