It made for a nice distraction from coverage of the Blizzard of 2022: Tom Brady is retiring from pro football after 22 seasons.

Or is he?

The source of the initial reports was a tweet from his company, TB12 Sports, that listed his major career accomplishments and the message "thank you for it all, Tom Brady" that was deleted after 45 minutes.

There was even a report by the Buccaneers Report that Brady would sign a one-day contract so he could retire as a New England Patriot.

His agent Don Yee issued a statement through the NFL Network that undermined the TB12 message and reports of his retirement.

"I understand the advance speculation about Tom's future. Without getting into the accuracy or inaccuracy of what's being reported, Tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy," Yee said in his statement. "He knows the realities of the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody, so that should be soon."

Brady's father Tom Brady Sr. told ESPN that his son "has made no such determination." Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians told ESPN that the team had not been notified of his retirement.

NFL Network's Ian Rapport said that no one has denied the report and that it's a matter of the timing of the announcement. Brady is currently involved with an ESPN show about his career, whose final episode has not yet been completed.

"My understanding confirming the initial report is that Tom Brady does plan to retire. From several people close to him  they believe he has played his last down in football retiring," Rappaport said. "This sounds to me like an issue of timing more than anything. Brady is in charge and in control of his brands. He generally has fantastically produced and well-produced announcements."

In a separate interview, Rappaport mentioned that Brady said during a recent podcast that he wanted to play until he was 45. Brady is currently 44 years old.

Speculation has been widespread about Brady's future after Tampa Bay's near-miraculous 24 point comeback against the Los Angeles Rams in the first round of the NFL playoffs.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNH

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