Brady: I felt 'pressure' to end retirement with free agency coming

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady opened up about his decision to unretire and his current commitment levels following his victory in The Match on Wednesday.

Brady revealed that the timing of free agency played a pivotal role in him returning for his 23rd season.

"At this stage, it's like 55% yes and 45% no. It's not 100-0. That's just the reality," Brady said, according to ESPN's Jenna Laine. "It's not that I'm not 100% committed, it's just as soon as I make the commitment to do it, it's like, 'Ugh. All right, here we go.'

"It's like running a marathon. You can't decide two weeks before the marathon, 'Hey, I'm going to start running.' We got right to free agency, and I felt some pressure to do it and talked to the team and organization, and it all worked out."

Brady announced he would end his short-lived retirement on the eve of free agency. The Buccaneers were able to re-sign many key players following Brady's return, including Leonard Fournette, Carlton Davis, and Ryan Jensen, among others.

The 44-year-old also noted that he was "partly" ready to walk away for good due to family responsibilities.

"So the responsibilities are many people taking care of me and things that I have off the field that are really important to me like my family, my kids, my wife's done an amazing job of that," Brady said, according to Laine. "That's a big commitment from her, so it's harder when you get older."

Brady is set to join Fox Sports as an analyst once he decides to wrap up his illustrious playing career.

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