The physical toll of 23 seasons in the NFL is one of the key reasons Tom Brady retired, according to his father.
Tom Brady Sr. told Mike Greenberg of ESPN that the last season was a particularly difficult one for his son, both on and off the field.
“This has been a really rough six months on his personal life, his family life, and on his football life,” Brady Sr. said, via Boston.com. “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 took excellent care of his body throughout his NFL career, but no amount of plyometric training protects you from 300-pound men repeatedly slamming you to the turf. And this was the season when Brady finally decided he’d had enough.