Much has been made of 44-year-old Philip Rivers’ potential return to the NFL field with the Indianapolis Colts.
48-year-old Tom Brady thinks there’s no reason he couldn’t do the same, except that he’s no longer allowed to.
“Who retires and then unretires and then is ultimately going to retire again? Who does that? That’s ridiculous for Philip to do that,” Brady joked about the 44-year-old Riverson on Thursday’s The Herd with Colin Cowherd.
Brady, of course, did just that, briefly retiring from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2022 before unretiring 40 days later. Even after retiring a second time and becoming a Fox NFL analyst, the seven-time Super Bowl winner has floated the idea that he could still play.
Naturally, Rivers’ return prompted the obvious question to be floated Brady’s way once more. And true to form, he feels as though he could still make a go of it at 48 years old. However, there’s a caveat in place that now makes it impossible to find out.
“Yes, I certainly could,” Brady said when Cowherd asked if he could lead a team if he knew the system. “I think the answer for me would be yes. I’m not allowed to anymore because I’m a minority owner of the Raiders, so I can’t unretire.”
Instead, Brady will be rooting for Rivers from the broadcasting booth and the owner’s box.
“I’m very excited to watch Philip play,” Brady said. “If he’s out there, it’s just very cool. It speaks to how much he loves the game and really what he’s able to do still.
“This game is about, for the quarterback, from the neck up. We used to have a saying at Michigan, ‘The mental is to the physical as four is to one at the quarterback position.’ That doesn’t really go away. Do you still have the physical ability to still do it — take the hits, make the throws, the drops, buy a little time in the pocket? If Philip has been practicing those things, then we’re all going to see it on full display in Seattle on Sunday afternoon.”
Technically, Brady is unretiring in one sense. He’ll be playing in the Fanatics Flag Football Classic in Saudi Arabia next March
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.