Tom Brady is less than two weeks away from his eighth Super Bowl in his 16 seasons as the Patriots' starting quarterback, but if his wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, had her way this spring, Brady wouldn't be spending the next two weeks preparing for the Eagles. He'd be enjoying retirement instead.
On Tuesday, Sports Illustrated's Greg Bishop dropped a well-reported, in-depth feature story on Brady and the Patriots. In that story is an anecdote involving Bundchen, Brady, and ex-NFL kicker (now an analyst for CBS Sports) Jay Feely, who knows Brady from their time together at Michigan. Feely told Bishop that Bundchen tried to get Feely to convince Brady to retire last spring.
From Bishop's story:
Last spring Brady and his family vacationed with retired kicker Jay Feely, a close friend from their college days at Michigan. This being Brady, Feely prefers not to disclose the locale, but he does share that Brady's wife, the supermodel Gisele Bündchen, spent time on that trip "trying to get me to convince [Tom] to stop playing." And, Feely adds, "she was dead serious."
Feely says he looked at his friend and told him, "Play as long as you can." Brady smiled back and winked.
This isn't the first time Bundchen has raised concerns about Brady's everlasting career, which began in 2000 and doesn't appear to be ending anytime soon. In February, Brady told Sirius XM Radio that she told him that she wanted him to retire.
"If it was up to my wife, she would have me retire today," Brady said. "She told me that last night three times. And I said, 'Too bad, babe, I'm having too much fun right now.' You know, I feel like I can still do it. If you love what you do and you're capable of doing it, then I might be so bored if I wasn't going out there knowing that I could still do it. So I'm going to work hard to be ready to go, and I still plan on playing for a long time."
In May 2017, she told "CBS This Morning" that she's concerned about Brady's long-term health.
"I just have to say, as a wife, I'm a little bit -- as you know, it's not the most, like -- let's say, [it's] an aggressive sport. Right? Football, like, he had a concussion last year. He has concussions, pretty much," she said. "I mean, we don't talk about it. But he does have concussions. And I don't really think it's a healthy thing for your body to go through that kind of aggression, like, all the time. That cannot be healthy for you, right? And I'm planning on having him be healthy and do a lot of fun things we when are like 100 [years old], I hope."
Brady isn't slowing down, though, even at the age of 40. He's likely to win MVP after throwing for 4,577 yards, 32 touchdowns, eight interceptions, and a 102.8 passer rating in the regular season. In the playoffs, he led the Patriots to an easy win over the Titans before engineering a double-digit fourth-quarter comeback against the Jaguars, who boasted arguably the best defense in football. Next up is a date with Eagles. If Brady beats them again -- like he did almost 15 years ago -- he'll capture his sixth Super Bowl ring.
The Patriots traded Jacoby Brissett in the summer and Jimmy Garoppolo just before the trade deadline, which means they don't even have his heir on the roster. Translation: Nobody is taking Brady's job in the near future barring a serious injury or a sudden and unexpected decline.
Bundchen might want her husband to retire, but that hasn't stopped her from being his biggest fan. A year ago, when Brady pulled off the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history, she celebrated accordingly.
Anyway, you should read Bishop's entire story at Sports Illustrated. You can do that by clicking here.
