Tom Brady Talks to Joe Burrow on ‘Let’s Go!’ Before Announcing His Retirement

Following the latest episode of SiriusXM’s weekly podcast “Let’s Go!,” where Tom Brady spoke with Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow ahead of the Super Bowl, Brady announced that “he can no longer make the commitment to playing football” after 22 seasons as a quarterback.

Brady started in the NFL with the New England Patriots in 2001. After unconfirmed reports broke over the weekend about Brady’s imminent retirement, “Let’s Go!” co-host Jim Gray asked Brady directly whether anything had changed in his plans since they last spoke.

“I’m just still going through the process that I said I was going through,” Brady clarified. “Sometimes it takes some time to really evaluate how you feel, what you want to do, and I think when the time’s right, I’ll be ready to make a decision one way or another — just like I said last week.”

However, his official decision came a little after 9:30am ET this morning via social media.

“This is difficult for me to write, but here it goes: I am not going to make that competitive commitment anymore,” he said in his post. “I have loved my NFL career, and now it is time to focus my time and energy on other things that require my attention.” He went on to thank and praise the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and his family.

On the most recent “Let’s Go!” episode, Brady spoke about the start of Burrow’s career, displays of toughness as a quarterback, Louisiana State University, and more.

Looking back on his own professional career as well as Burrow’s promising one ahead, Brady said, “I think Joe’s got some tools that I didn’t quite have when I was his age, so super impressed by how he’s kind of come into the league and went to Cincinnati, which has been a tough place to play over the years. And, you know, two years into his career, after a really tough injury last year, showed a lot of mental and physical toughness coming back and having an incredible season.”

A Michigan alum, Brady couldn’t help slipping in a little dig at Ohio State while complimenting Burrow’s choice to transfer to Louisiana State.

“You got out of that godforsaken place and [went to] LSU. As a Michigan man, I could tell how smart he was when he did that. One of the best you ever made, Joe,” Brady said. Burrow won the Heisman Trophy and the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship as a senior at LSU.

Brady also remarked on the fact that Burrow was sacked over 60 times this past season, but his toughness always put him right back on his feet.

“There’s very few ways to display toughness from a quarterback because we don’t play at the line of scrimmage, we don’t block, we don’t tackle. We don’t have to go hit anybody, but the way that we can show our toughness is you can stand in the pocket and make throws,” Brady explained. “I think what I love about Joe’s game is he does just that. He gets knocked down, he gets up, and he’s ready for the next play.”

Burrow and the Bengals face off against the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium on February 13 at 6:30pm ET.