Tom Brady Reveals Whether He Actually Plans To Retire Mid-Season Amidst Apparent Gisele Bündchen Drama

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Tom Brady said that “my place is still on the field and not in the stands” before un-retiring in March, but does that still stand seven months later? Amid a 3-3 start with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and reported marriage woes with Gisele Bündchen over his decision to return, there was talk that Tom, 45, could an audible and hang up his helmet before the season’s halfway point – and he put that talk to rest on Oct. 20. In a clip from a press conference posted to the Bucs’ Instagram, Tom committed to finishing this season. “I love the sport, I love the teammates, and I want to go do a good job for this team like I always have,” he said. “So, no retirement in my future.”

With Tom and Gisele, 42, reportedly lawyering up in preparation for a split, there was speculation that Brady might take another leave of absence to attend to his personal life. The talk of the Brady mid-season sign-off picked up steam during the Oct. 18 episode of Pro Football Talk Live. “Normally, I’d feel like it’s [Aaron] Rodgers that would be that guy,” former Bucs quarterback Chris Simms said. “But because of this year and some of the off-the-field stuff that’s hitting home and personal stuff with Brady, this is the one year I feel maybe it might be Brady. “I think Rodgers is usually the guy to be more renegade and be like, ‘screw this, I’m out of here.’ But this is a weird year where we’re seeing Brady do weird crap and having personal issues.”

Simms’ reference to some of that “weird crap” might be Brady’s sideline temper tantrums. Brady tore into his offensive line during the Oct. 16 game between the Bucs and the Pittsburgh Steelers, chastising them for being “so much better than the way you’re f-cking playing.” The Bucs lost that game, 20-18. When facing the New Orleans Saints in the second game of the season, a frustrated Tom threw a sideline iPad down to the ground. The Bucs would ultimately prevail in that game.

Brady addressed the recent behavior in the Oct. 17 episode of the SiriusXM podcast Let’s Go! with Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray. “I don’t know if it’s motivation,” he said, “but I do think that it’s a bad day when there’s more f-bombs than touchdowns. So, that was not one of my better days.”

A week earlier, Tom hinted at the trouble between him and Gisele. “There’s things I’m going through in my 40s, and it’s life,” he said. “And you learn to grow up and you learn to deal with life. And that’s what we’re all trying to do. We’re trying to do it the best way we can.”