Tom Brady May Be Retiring. Here’s How Much He’s Earned In His 22-Year NFL Career.

It could be over.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington reported on Saturday afternoon that Tom Brady was retiring from professional football. Brady’s own wellness company, TB12, seemed to confirm the news in a Twitter post thanking him for “22 incredible seasons.” But the post was later deleted, and the 44-year-old quarterback’s agent Don Yee tried to tamp down the speculation, telling Schefter in a statement that “Tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy.” The Associated Press then reported, citing unnamed sources, that Brady had told the Tampa Bay Buccaneers he had not decided whether he would hang up his cleats.

Brady, a sixth-round draft pick who went on to star for the New England Patriots and the Buccaneers, would leave behind a Hall of Fame legacy, with NFL career records for passing yards (84,520), passing touchdowns (624) and championships (seven). The three-time MVP was similarly successful financially: Across his 22 years, Brady made $293 million with his playing contracts, according to Spotrac. Forbes estimates that Brady added more than $160 million with his endeavors off the field.

That total of roughly $450 million makes Brady the NFL’s all-time earnings leader, beating a mark set by his longtime rival Peyton Manning, who left the game after the 2015 season with an estimated $400 million in career earnings.

With lucrative endorsement deals with companies like Fanatics, Hertz, Subway and Under Armour—plus a massive partnership he struck with cryptocurrency exchange FTX in June—Brady has redefined how football players can leverage their star power. He collected an NFL-record $45 million off the field this season, bettering the $31 million he posted in May when he landed at No. 9 on Forbes’ annual list of the world’s highest-paid athletes.

But that level of success as a pitchman is still a recent development for Brady, who for many years had a reputation for turning down most endorsement offers. Brady was pulling around $12 million annually off the field as recently as the 2019 season, according to Forbes estimates—enough to put him among the NFL’s highest-paid players but not in the same stratosphere of the last two years.

With a new commitment to his marketing deals—and his seventh Super Bowl title last February, in his first year with the Buccaneers—his business exploded. In addition to his traditional sponsorships, Brady is a cofounder of TB12, which sells supplements and other fitness products, and of NFT platform Autograph, which launched last summer and raised $170 million in a recent funding round. He also has his own media company, 199 Productions, and is the subject of ESPN+ documentary series Man in the Arena. And Brady, who has often had the NFL’s bestselling jersey, unveiled a namesake apparel line this month.

A native of San Mateo, California, Brady entered the NFL in 2000 after the Patriots drafted him 199th overall out of the University of Michigan. His run of success began a year later, after an injury to Drew Bledsoe elevated Brady to the starting quarterback role and he led the franchise to its first Super Bowl title over the then-St. Louis Rams. He won a total of six championships in New England before departing for Tampa Bay in 2020.

Brady has said repeatedly that he wanted to play until age 45, and he upped the ante in October when he told ESPN that he could play until 50 or 55—if he wanted to. Despite a loss to the Rams in the divisional playoffs last week, he remains at the top of his game, having led the league in completions (485), passing yards (5,316) and passing touchdowns (43) in 2021. He is slated to earn $27.3 million in salary and bonuses should he return for the 2022 season.

If Brady does indeed call it a career, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes would become the new marketing king of the NFL. He earned $22 million off the field this season, according to Forbes estimates. Only three other players on this season’s list of the NFL’s ten highest-paid players earned eight figures off the field: Dak Prescott ($12 million), Russell Wilson ($12 million) and Aaron Rodgers ($11 million).