If the news has somehow escaped you to this point, Tom Brady has officially retired (again) from the NFL.
Defenses can rest easy knowing that the 23 year vet won’t be around anymore, but safe to say he’ll probably be even more present with fans as he was offered a lead analyst position with Fox, that could be worth over $400 million dollars, and not having a wife around anymore means he could be spending even more time in front of a camera…
He leaves as the all-time leader in pretty much every passing category to go along with 7 Super Bowl rings, 5 Super Bowl MVP’s, 2 Offensive Player of The Year awards, and 15 Pro Bowls.
While there’s no shortage of cool stories from his career, one that always pops up and is worth telling again is how he made sure Rob Gronkowski earned his performance bonus during the last game of the 2021 season against the Carolina Panthers.
They had already secured a playoff birth and didn’t have much to gain, not to mention the game was a blow out, so players started thinking about some incentives in their contract.
If you aren’t aware, a lot of NFL players have a base salary, but then can earn bonus payments for hitting certain statistic marks.
Well, in the 4th quarter, tight end Rob Gronkowski needed just one more reception to earn a $500,000 catch bonus. He’d already hit his yardage bonus earlier in the game for another $500,000, so he found Tom Brady and told him that he just needed one more to get a million for the day.
Both players were mic’ed up, which gives us some awesome footage of the conversation that took place on the sideline. Naturally, it unfolded in the most Gronk way ever.
“Let’s go, I need one more… If I don’t get the 7th catch, I have to go get a real job.”
Well, right on cue, the next time the Bucs take the field, Brady calls a simple out route to his favorite target, who made the grab and secured a $1 million bonus for the day.
Afterwards, he again finds Brady on the sideline to thank him, and Brady says:
“I had to get you.”
Yes, they’re all making more money than most of us could fathom, but it’s pretty cool knowing that the guys are looking out for each other like that.
Even offensive lineman Donovan Smith joins in the fun, dancing with Gronk and tells him:
“We’re going to the city!”
Gotta love it.
There’s no denying the game will be different without Tom Brady.
But hey, maybe we’ll get sick of him in the booth like fans are with Tony Romo…
Only time will tell…
