The in-season divorce from supermodel Gisele Bündchen was “traumatizing” for Tom Brady.
That’s according to ESPN reporter Jeff Darlington, who appeared on “First Take” Wednesday morning and was asked why Brady decided to call it a career after 23 seasons in the league.
“Just talking to people this morning, many of which are very close to Tom, I would choose one word: Exhausted. He’s tired,” Darlington said. “I think it’s not just about the 23-year career, which obviously deservedly so, he’s 45 years old. It’s time to rest up.”
One year after stunning the sports world with a retirement announcement, Brady did the same thing Wednesday, telling fans in an emotional Instagram video that it’s “for real” this time.
Darlington elaborated Wednesday how “during his most hyper-focused time,” the seven-time Super Bowl champ was also grappling with the dissolution of his 13-year marriage to Bündchen, with whom he shares son Benjamin, 13, and daughter Vivian, 10.
“But we have to remember. Take the human element of this past year into consideration. During his most hyper-focused time of his life, which is in-season, he went through the stress of a divorce — a traumatizing divorce to him. So, now he stepped back. He decided, ‘You know what, I need to recharge. I need to rebuild my life and get myself reenergized,’ and not for the football field, but just in general,” Darlington said.
Brady and Bündchen confirmed their divorce in October following weeks of speculation about the state of their marriage.
Darlington was emphatic that people close to Brady believe he will not un-retire as he did last offseason.
“So ultimately, I will be very clear on this, everybody is telling me that he is done-done. This is not going to be a reconsideration,” Darlington said. “He is done. He feels at peace with it. He is ready to move on with his life away from football.”
Days before Brady confirmed his second NFL retirement, Darlington reported the quarterback lost 15 pounds during the season. Darlington’s ESPN colleague, Adam Schefter, also cited Brady’s personal life when discussing the quarterback carousel as the offseason gets underway,
“Even though the idea will come up in the spring and the summer, when some team needs a quarterback, and Tom Brady will want to play — because he can still play — but his life is different right now,” Schefter said Wednesday on “First Take.”
“He’s a single father. His children are on the East Coast. There could be opportunities on the West Coast. But it’s tough to make those things work when you want to immerse yourself in the culture of a team. It doesn’t work when you’re doing that in Las Vegas or San Francisco or some of the places he’s been connected to in recent days. And he’s tired right now. And he wants to recharge.”
Brady has a deal with Fox Sports to enter their top NFL broadcast booth after his retirement. The Post’s Andrew Marchand previously reported Brady inked a 10-year, $375 million deal last spring.
Questions now loom over when Brady will assume the role and what will happen with Greg Olsen, who has excelled in the top job partnered with play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt.
