NFL insider shares bold take about potential Tom Brady comeback

Well-known NFL insider Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk sounds convinced that living legend Tom Brady was serious when Brady suggested during a recent podcast appearance that he could play for a quarterback-needy team during the 2024 NFL season. 

"I don’t think it’s something that just flew out of his mouth," Florio said about Brady's headline-generating comments during a Monday appearance on "The Dan Patrick Show," as shared by Brendon Kleen of Awful Announcing. "And I think that was his trial balloon to see if anyone will call him. Just a couple of weeks before the draft, plenty of teams looking for quarterbacks. I think Brady wants to come back. He wants to be pursued." 

There are several reasons to believe that Brady truly has taken his final snap as an active player. He stayed retired from February 2023 through today even though a San Francisco 49ers team that played in last year's NFC Championship Game wanted him for this past season. He turns 47 years old in April. He's also on track to become both Fox's lead NFL analyst and a limited partner of the Las Vegas Raiders.

"I think there’s a chance he never gets in the booth at all, at least not this year," Florio said about Brady during the show segment. 

Brady signed a 10-year deal with Fox reportedly worth $375M after the 2021 season, but media insiders such as Richard Deitsch of The Athletic have repeatedly questioned if the seven-time Super Bowl champion will call games for the network throughout the next decade. Florio indicated while speaking with Patrick that Brady wants teams to know he's available whenever starting quarterbacks go down with injuries from now through Week 18 of the 2024 season. 

"I think there are no accidents when it comes to Tom Brady," Florio told Patrick. "And for him to come out and say, after declaring last year he’s done and he’s never coming back … [that he] wouldn’t be opposed to coming back and playing, are you kidding me? That was huge." 

Multiple individuals familiar with Brady disagree with Florio and believe the future Hall of Famer has moved on to the next chapters of his football and non-football lives. With that said, it appears whispers about a possible Brady comeback will hover over the NFL for at least one more season.