ESPN Doubling Down On Tom Brady Report
January 30th, 2022
Adam Schefter.
The national media types are in lockstep: Tom Brady is retiring. Adam Schefter, Ian Rapoport, Jason La Canfora, they are all reporting the same: Multiple sources from Brady’s inside circle say he’s done.
Now Bucs brass claims Brady hasn’t made any decision. Brady’s dad claims he is not retiring at all.
However three rivals (La Canfora, Rapoport, Schefter) who would love nothing more than to prove the other guy(s) wrong are all reporting the very same thing. And none is stepping back.
La Canfora first suggested Friday night this was going to happen. Then Schefter, with aid from Brady insider Jeff Darlington (who was the very first to say Brady would be coming to Tampa Bay) on Saturday afternoon. Then Rapoport late Saturday afternoon noted his Brady sources were saying the same thing that Schefter (and Darlington) and La Canfora were being fed.
How confident is BSPN in this story? They are diving head-first in the deep end of the pool, per Richard Deitsch, who covers sports media for The Athletic. It seems later this morning, BSPN will go full-blown Brady-is-retiring programming on several platforms including ABC’s news division.
Regarding ESPN: SportsCenter comes on after the Australian Open finishes. Look for Sunday AM SC to be heavy Brady. That runs into ESPN’s NFL coverage. Told Schefter is likely to go on GMA tomorrow to talk Brady. As they’ve already noted: They are standing by their reporting.
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) January 30, 2022
As Joe stated yesterday, if somehow all of these well-plugged-in people all swing and miss on probably the biggest sports story since Magic Johnson came down with HIV, the whiff will forever be known as the sports journalism’s “Dewey Defeats Truman” moment. Schefter, La Canfora et al will never live it down. It will be their tattoo. It will be etched on their career gravestones.
As the creator, curator and overall guru of Pro Football Talk, the great Mike Florio, noted last night, would Brady be so peeved at this leak that he would play another season, just to yell “vaffanculo!” at BSPN?
No, Joe knows Brady isn’t Italian. But you get the drift.
January 30th, 2022 at 12:09 am
It’s a Buc’s life baby!
January 30th, 2022 at 12:11 am
I think they all got played and Brady is coming back
January 30th, 2022 at 12:14 am
feel so bummed out on this, hoping for another year I have really enjoyed Bucs ball the last 2 years
January 30th, 2022 at 12:17 am
Brady thank you for re-establishing the dog in Tampa bay. Please come back for another yr. If not go enjoy yours brother.
January 30th, 2022 at 12:26 am
Quite frankly, it’s rude what they are doing. Digging for info and prematurely announcing the guys retirement is pretty rude if you ask me. Put some respect on Brady’s name.
January 30th, 2022 at 12:27 am
Never believe fake news. Who is their source? AB? Baloney. I will wait for Brady and Gronk.
January 30th, 2022 at 12:30 am
Hopefully they were right and now they pissed him off enough to cancel his decision just to spite them.
I said “hopefully”!
January 30th, 2022 at 12:31 am
The five stages of grief are:
denial.
anger.
bargaining.
depression.
acceptance.
January 30th, 2022 at 12:34 am
Now the sports media has all but cast integrity out of journalism…
Many in the ear of the public saying ‘Tom retired’ When the guy himself says NO I didn’t… Media saying they know the guys business more than the player himself…
That’s equivalent to a kid on the school yard making up something about you and you deny it but they insist you did… That doesn’t make it based on facts…
They only have a 50/50 chance of being right but even if he retires, their report was a blind guess… Shoddy work!…
This site is better than all those hacks… On that ‘guru’ site Joe mentions just the other day in one report said ‘Report: Jaguars trying to finalize deal to make Byron Leftwich head coach’ AND JUST A FEW HOURS THIS ‘Report: Jaguars aren’t close to a deal with any head coach’…. Not a retraction nor did they take the 1st post down….SMH!
January 30th, 2022 at 12:34 am
Tom Brady, Sr. blasted out that Tom wasn’t retiring. Do you think that the Brady Bunch might be interested in thd outcome of the 49ers-Rams game BEFORE Tom makes any decision about retiring? What might happen if Jimmy G. chokes up another hairball, this time in the NFC Championship Game? What might the 49ers do if that happened?
Just spitballin here but certainly Tom would have sat with Jason and Arians, talked, listened and gave them his decision prior to going public. Neither had a clue this was coming. I did read that Tom’s personal assistant had been asking around the League whether there were any other top tier QBs looking for a new assistant. Not too obvious a tell.
January 30th, 2022 at 12:37 am
It doesnt matter. Brady is retiring this year or next. Licht. Call jameis and make a offer.
January 30th, 2022 at 12:46 am
I would love nothing more than to see that schmuck Schefter get blasted for jumping the gun, thinking he’s got the upper hand all the time on reporting.
Sadly I think Brady IS retiring.
January 30th, 2022 at 12:48 am
FUMBLE! As per The Hedge.
This media frenzy is based on a tweet from TB12 that has been deleted here is the text.
After ESPN’s report, TB12sports Twitter account wrote: “7 Super Bowl Rings. 5 Super Bowl MVPs. 3 League MVP Awards. 22 Incredible Seasons. Thank you for it all, @TomBrady”, but as we noted earlier, that post was removed…
That is not a retirement announcement. I doubt Brady even wrote it.
As of 6:30 Bloomberg posted the ESPN report as the 4th top story of the day.
ESPN reporters are posting conflicting reports
Jeff Howe and JennaLaine report he has not made a decision based upon named source Ariens.
January 30th, 2022 at 12:50 am
Adrnagy,
I was a big Jameis fan, more of the person than the QB, but definitely DO NOT call him. It has become clear he will never be in the same league as the upper tier QBs in this league. With the right team, he can have a solid career, but he just can’t beat NFL defenses like a Brady, Rodgers, Mahomes, Wilson, Allen, or about a half-dozen other QBs in this league can.
January 30th, 2022 at 12:59 am
Jameis?!? Lol, that era is long over folks. Get rid of Gabbert pronto, let’s see what Trask has, and daft another qb within the first three rounds. Regardless of which new qb starts next year, unless they are good, we are going to have a bad record with that brutal schedule and we’ll be most likely picking in the top ten in 2023.
January 30th, 2022 at 12:59 am
Plankwalker, I think he could be ‘negotiating’ Maybe not retiring. It is a possumbility.
January 30th, 2022 at 1:07 am
I agree Posey. They’re like vultures. No basic decency.. the goat retiring is a career story right?
January 30th, 2022 at 1:12 am
Well according to Fox News Brady is waiting until after February 4th to make his decision. If he is still on the roster come February 4th he is owned 15 million dollar signing bonus. Makes sense now on why he didn’t want it leaked he is retiring.
January 30th, 2022 at 1:26 am
Hopefully he comes back now just to spite them!!!!
January 30th, 2022 at 1:29 am
Adrnagy
Jamies!?!?!?
So you apparently hate the Buccaneers
January 30th, 2022 at 1:53 am
Until the man confirms it, it’s not a fact. What is a fact is that the national sports media is chock full of blowhards.
January 30th, 2022 at 2:01 am
Thank you, BucsFan81, for stating a very important fact. Who says no to $15 million. StevenGS, the 49ers are committed to Trey Lance and are prepared to get Jimmy G walk. Brady as a 49er has never been a practical reality.
January 30th, 2022 at 2:09 am
Brady grew up in southern California so it makes sense that he might want to end his career with his boyhood team the 49ers and close to his parents. So to keep him from retiring why don’t we pitch a trade to Brady to the 49ers for Jimmy GQ to Tampa. There is that Lynch and Licht connection.
January 30th, 2022 at 2:19 am
What we know:
Tom didn’t announce it.
His agent didn’t announce it.
His FATHER didn’t announce it
January 30th, 2022 at 3:05 am
Lol, Garoppolo? I’d rather have Jameis back. It’s only been two years, but I guess that I forgot what not having a decent qb felt like. Hopefully Trask or a drafted rookie can make some noise this year.
Carr is ok, but not worth the money he’ll want when his current contract is up. Plus, we’d have to give up picks. Pass. Wilson is still a good player but he’s not worth his contract and it’s a team crippler. The Seahawks will want too much compensation anyway, even if Wilson were on a reasonable contract. No thanks. Bridgewater sucks. Dalton sucks. The Texans would have to offer me a couple of first rounders to even think about taking Watson off their hands. Our immediate qb future is bleak if Trask doesn’t show anything
January 30th, 2022 at 3:32 am
Conspiracy theory—-as Tom is a fan of both Aaron Rodgers & *gasp* Joe Rogan, what if he did all this to prove how breathlessly wrong the media can be when reporting something ☺️. No, I’m not serious, but it’s amusing nonetheless.
January 30th, 2022 at 4:05 am
Although totally impossible, I dream of a scenario along these lines. Brady comes back on a restructured deal. They keep Jensen.They sign a FA pass rusher, along lines of Jerry Hughes, Justin Houston, plus draft a pass rusher at the top of the draft. They sign DL Akiem Hicks. Godwin comes back on a team friendly deal. Or they get Christian Kirk plus find another outside WR in the draft. They sign RB James White, who wants to reunite with the GOAT one last time, on a one year deal. Gronk is back.
Brian Flores replaces BA as HC and is DC. Flores lands an OC amenable to Brady.
What a nice dream.
January 30th, 2022 at 4:07 am
Deshaun Watson anyone?
January 30th, 2022 at 6:54 am
Watson would be ideal & would play the longest . Follwed by Wilson …
GoBucs!
January 30th, 2022 at 7:25 am
If Brady plays, all three should be fired immediately.
…and then given jobs at CNN and MSNBC.
January 30th, 2022 at 7:29 am
Why do these idiots insist on stealing a man’s thunder. Give Brady some respect and let him speak for himself. He’s earned the right to make his own announcement.
January 30th, 2022 at 7:32 am
a 2 year pitstop in tampa is oddly short…
it means he must not have really liked it here…
as they say with rookies, it takes 3 years to know what you have…
with tom, 3 years would have been like he did his term here…
he even said himself, it takes time to get to know each other – player wise…
this upcoming year, year 3, would have been the year for them to really become a seasoned group together, offensively…
so yeah i say tom is bailing a season too early for the liking
January 30th, 2022 at 8:46 am
Please people, stop the media bashing, they’re just doing their job. Any good reporter get’s a scoop they report it. Just because you don’t like the news, or don’t like the way it’s being reported doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be. extra, extra read all about it, Brady’s retiring!
January 30th, 2022 at 8:52 am
Sapp attack and Buc 92 Watson would likely be arrested at Mons Venus if he came here!
January 30th, 2022 at 9:28 am
Well of course they are
CYA
and
MoveOn.Story
January 30th, 2022 at 10:22 am
If team members are sending out there well wishes and congrats to Tom? Then its very likely he has said something to a few of them. Ok Licht, get us a QB.
January 30th, 2022 at 12:23 pm
@ hey – more like Fox with liars like Tucker and Hannity.
They flat out lie – even Fox says not to take seriously.
MIRROR DUDE
January 30th, 2022 at 7:30 pm
“Deshaun Watson anyone?”
Because they didn’t learn their lesson with brown.
January 30th, 2022 at 7:52 pm
This truly makes me realize how stupid bucs fans are he’s just waiting on his money on the 4th