Tom Brady Says He's Not Going To 'Reverse Course' On Retirement Decision

Tom Brady feels satisfied with his decision to retire from the NFL -- at least for now.

The former football quarterback, 44, talked about his retirement for the first time since he made his announcement last week on the latest episode of his SiriusXM podcast, "Let's Go!"

"My teammates know that I give them everything I can. My coaches know that. It's certainly not that I can't do that, and it's certainly not that I can't play or continue to play, but I think there's an important choice for me to make, you know, and I think the choice is, everything certainly comes at a cost and the cost is what am I missing out on other aspects of my life and things that are, as you get older, you experience things that are outside of the sport that demand attention and energy that football has always gotten, and it's time for me to commit to those types of things," he said of his decision.

"A lot of things have come up over the years in the last 10 years of my life as I got closer to this decision this last week, and it just in the end felt like it was just the right time to do it," the seven-time Super Bowl champion continued.

"And I think for anyone who loves the sport like I have over the years, it'll always be hard and as it should be, because I've committed a lot of time and energy and hours to it, but at the same time, there's a time and place for everything, and I've had an amazing time in place doing it. I am really excited for what's ahead. And I don't know what that means or where it takes me, but I know that it'll be fun and exciting. I'm going to make the most, you know, whatever opportunities present themselves as I go forward," he added.

Brady also said that his retirement was not based on "a physical thing," although he noted that the sports "does require a lot of time and energy."

"You know, it's just the nature of football, and if you want to be good at it, you got to commit all the time and energy you can to do it," he stated.

"I always say playing football during the season. I'm like Kentucky Derby a lot. So I look at those horses, and they had the blinders on and you literally are just running full speed as fast as you can, you know, for basically the entire season and there's no time to look right or left, and there's a lot of things that are happening in your life that you don't look right or left, you're still looking straight ahead that you miss something," Brady added.

The NFL superstar feels grateful for playing the sports for 22 years, but according to him, it's now time to do the "other things in my life."

"And you know, there just comes a time for all of us where we got to decide what we want to look going forward. I can always look at the past and look at all the teams we've had a lot of success and stuff and the amazing relationships and all the great teammates," he said. "Like football, I've seen so many great players retire over the years. The game just goes on. It should. And it's gonna outlast everybody. But I was fortunate to do it for a long time for 22 years. I did it at the highest level and I had the best teammates and mentors, coaches, and friends. Again, it's just pretty simple. It's just, there's time for other things that I need. I need to make time for other things in my life. And it's, it's exciting for me to be able to really enjoy some of those new moments as well."

As to whether he would entertain the thought of returning to the NFL, Brady didn't hesitate and said, "never say never."

"I'm just gonna take things as they come. I think that's the best way to put it. And I don't think anything, never, you know, you never say never," he explained.

"At the same time, I know that I feel very good about my decision. So just six months from now, it most likely won't. I try to make the best possible decision I can in the moment, which I did this last week. And again, I think it's not looking to, you know, reverse course. I'm definitely not looking to do that. But in the same time, I think you have to be realistic that you never know what would what challenges there are going to be in life. And I love playing. I'm looking forward to doing things other than playing. That's as honest as I can be with you that idea," he said.