Tom Brady is retiring from the NFL—for good.

The future Hall of Fame quarterback made the announcement on Wednesday morning (Feb. 1) in a raw, self-shot video.

In the clip, Tom jokingly acknowledged that he had already used up his "super emotional retirement essay" when he retired the first time around, but still thanked family, friends, teammates, competitors, and fans in his emotional goodbye message.

NFL insider Adam Schefter pointed out that Brady announced his initial "retirement" on February 1, 2022, before deciding to return to football a short time later. This time, Brady says he is stepping away "for good."

As Brady calls it a career, it's hard to believe that any other quarterback will put up the numbers that he has over 23 seasons in the NFL. During his time with the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brady was a 7-time Super Bowl champion and a 5-time Super Bowl MVP.

Perhaps his most impressive feat was playing at a high level until the age of 45.

According to Jeff Darlington, Brady informed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of his decision to retire around 6 a.m. which means he addressed fans immediately afterward.

One interesting detail in Darlington's tweet is that, despite what multiple media outlets have been reporting, Brady was never considering coming back for a run with another NFL team. Brady was either making "a return to Tampa or retirement."

He briefly retired after the 2021 season, but wound up coming back for one more year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He retires at age 45, the owner of numerous passing records in an unprecedented 23-year career.

A year ago when he retired, it was in the form of a long Instagram post. But about six weeks later, he decided to come back for one more run. The Buccaneers — with whom he won a Super Bowl two seasons ago — made the playoffs again this season, losing in their playoff opener. And at the time, it begged the question about whether Brady would play again.

Only a couple weeks later, he has given the answer.

“I know the process was a pretty big deal last time, so when I woke up this morning, I figured I’d just press record and let you guys know first,” Brady says in the video. “I won’t be long-winded. You only get one super emotional retirement essay and I used mine up last year.

I really thank you guys so much, to every single one of you for supporting me. My family, my friends, teammates, my competitors. I could go on forever. There’s too many. Thank you guys for allowing me to live my absolute dream. I wouldn’t change a thing. Love you all.

Brady is the NFL’s career leader in yards passing (89,214) and touchdowns (649). He’s the only player to win more than five Super Bowls and has been MVP of the game five times.

Brady has won three NFL MVP awards, been a first-team All-Pro three times and selected to the Pro Bowl 15 times.

Brady and supermodel Gisele Bündchen finalized their divorce this past fall, during the Bucs’ season. It ended a 13-year marriage between two superstars who respectively reached the pinnacles of football and fashion.

It was announced last year that when Brady retires from playing, he would join Fox Sports as a television analyst in a 10-year, $375 million deal.

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