It has now been 35 days since Tom Brady retired, and so far, he has stayed retired, unlike last year. Last season, Brady returned to the NFL after a 40-day retirement, and this year, some people are thinking that he might do the same thing.
There's been a lot of speculation that Brady might end up playing in 2023 and that speculation continued this week with Scott Zolak. The former NFL quarterback, who has spent more than 10 years on the Patriots radio team, said he believes that not only will Brady return, but the most likely place for his return is Miami.
"Brady may go to Miami. I think that's in play, I do," Zolak said Wednesday, via NBC Sports Boston. "I think the possibility of him coming out of retirement is definitely 100% in play."
Brady tried to shut down the return rumors on Tuesday by tweeting about a kitten, but Zolak doesn't think that means anything.
Anyone who thinks I have time to come back to the NFL has never adopted a 2 month old kitten for their daughter. https://t.co/Qzf2H4vr1j
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) March 7, 2023
"You can sit there and look at the kitten tweet from yesterday, don't buy that," Zolak said.
Zolak spent eight seasons in the NFL with seven of those coming in New England and one coming in Miami. The former NFL QB also pointed out that there's been plenty of chatter about a Brady return over the past month.
"This isn't me saying it," Zolak said. "This isn't someone close to Brady. It started with Rich Eisen at the Super Bowl. Multiple people dropped the hints. Colin Cowherd, he knows some Fox people."
Zolak also pointed out that Brady has already said that he doesn't plan on starting his new job at Fox until 2024, which means the 2023 season is wide open.
"I don't think he's going to call games [for Fox]," Zolak said. "How does that deal get done? How do you sign a guy to that $375 million, 10-year contract to call games? He's not even going to do it next year. I know his handlers have moved to Miami. It's built for him. He's looking at private schools for his kids. Cowherd talks about the San Francisco offense. He's not talking about San Francisco. He's talking about Mike McDaniel in Miami."
Zolak is connecting the dots and the fact there are a lot of dots to connect makes him even more convinced that Brady will come out of retirement.
Let's not forget that the Dolphins have already gone after Brady multiple times. The team even got docked a 2023 first-round pick for tampering with Brady. However, tampering won't be an issue this year, because once March 15 hits, Brady will officially be a free agent and any team can call him, including the Dolphins.
The Dolphins currently have Tua Tagovailoa, but he's dealt with multiple concussions over the first three years of his career, which has raised questions about his longevity. The Dolphins could have put an end to the speculation about Tua's future at the combine by letting it be known that they're going to pick up his fifth-year option, but instead, they said they're going to wait until closer to the May 1 deadline before making a decision.
CBS Sports NFL Insider Josina Anderson recently reported that the Dolphins would be exploring all options at quarterback this offseason and looking into Brady would definitely qualify as looking into "all options."
