Tom Brady has announced his retirement for the second and final time - and tributes continue to pour in for the NFL legend.
After 23 seasons at the top of American football, the 45-year-old announced to fans across the world that the recently completed season would be his final as a professional player. Brady had called time on his legendary career exactly 12 months previous, only to complete a stunning U-turn and re-sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But after a campaign which saw him miss out on the postseason for just the second time as a starter, he confirmed he was hanging up his boots. "Good morning guys, I'll get to the point right away, I'm retiring, for good,” he posted in a video on social media.
"I know the process was a pretty big deal last time so when I woke up this morning I figured that I'll just press record and let you guys know first. It won't be long winded. You only get one super-emotional retirement essay and I used mine up last year."
His retirement ends a career the likes of which will likely never be matched, with his seven Super Bowls more than any NFL franchise has ever won. He lifted six of those Vince Lombardi Trophies during his 20-year stint with the New England Patriots.
He did suffer some heartbreak with the Patriots though, with Eli Manning’s New York Giants upsetting the odds to beat them in two Super Bowls. The first of those came in 2008 when Brady was denied sporting immortality and the chance to complete an entire season unbeaten.
The Patriots had already navigated the regular season without defeat, before reaching the showpiece against the unfancied Giants. However, dreams of a perfect season ended in Arizona after a famous 17-14 defeat.
Amani Toomer was a huge part of the victorious Giants squad, leading the team in receptions and yards. Toomer - a fellow alumni of Michigan University - would retire from the sport 12 months after that victory, with his own legendary career highlighted by that win.
And the 48-year-old, now a pundit on Amazon Prime, has revealed the lengths Brady went to following that loss in Phoenix to reach out to Toomer and show a glimpse of his class in defeat.
“We beat them in the Super Bowl in 2007 and I’m walking from the stadium to the buses. And we pass right by the New England Patriots buses,” Toomer explained.
“Tom Brady jumps off the bus and comes up to me and says: ‘Amani you had a great career, I’m so proud of you.’ We both went to the same college and we both grew up in the Bay Area, I was a bit older than him.
“So he gets off the bus, says all this really nice stuff and I’m looking at him and I’m like: ‘I can’t believe you’re saying this to me.’ And that’s when I knew…Tom Brady is a much better man than I am.
“Because if I’d lost the Super Bowl and saw Tom Brady walk past our bus, I would just be like [swats hand]. It would have been 19-0, it would have broken the record, but he gets off the bus and says very kind words about me.
“That’s something I’ll never forget about Tom and like I said…he’s a much better man than I am!”
