Over the course of the offseason, there was a lot of speculation suggesting that Tom Brady was trying to leave Tampa Bay this year and although that didn’t end up happening, the seven-time Super Bowl winner will definitely be able to leave the Buccaneers following the 2022 season, if that’s what he wants to do.
When Brady agreed to his newly restructured deal on Friday, the new contract included two key elements as far as his future goes (Details via Ben Volin of the Boston Globe):
The contract didn’t add any additional years to Brady’s old deal. Under his old deal, Brady was set to become a free agent following the upcoming season and that will still be the case under the restructured deal. The contract includes a clause that will prevent the Buccaneers from using the franchise or transitional tag on Brady. The biggest part of Brady’s deal is this clause because it means Tampa Bay can’t hit him with the franchise or transition tag. The clause was in his original contract and because it’s still included in his restructured deal, it means there will be no way for the Buccaneers to keep him from becoming a free agent in 2023.
Basically what this all means is that as long as he doesn’t retire following the 2022 season, Brady will almost certainly be hitting the free agent market for just the second time in his career.
If Brady wanted to play for the Buccaneers next season, he simply could have signed an extension instead of restructuring his deal. An extension also would have helped the Bucs, because it would have taken Brady’s future pay off the books if he decided to retire while under contract with them. Instead, the Buccaneers are now in a spot where they have a low cap number with Brady this year (just $13.77 million), but a sky-high one in 2023 ($35.1 million) and that $35 million cap hit is going to happen whether Brady is on the team or not.
So will Brady retire after…
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