Tom Brady talks about returning to the NFL

Following Tom Brady’s announcement on February 1 that he is stepping away from football — after an unmatched, record-breaking career spanning 20 seasons with the New England Patriots and two with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — Brady spoke on the most recent episode of the SiriusXM Let’s Go! podcast about his possible future return to the NFL.

“[It’s] certainly not that I can’t play, or continue to play, but I think there’s an important choice for me to make,” Brady said to co-host Jim Gray, explaining how he wants to focus on things outside of football as he gets older. “And it just, in the end, felt like it was the right time to do it.”

Related: Don’t miss an episode of Let’s Go! with Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray

Referring to his own and other NFL legends’ past retirements, Brady added, “The game just goes on. And it should. And it’s gonna outlast everybody. But I was fortunate to do it for a long time.”

However, Brady didn’t seem 100 percent firm on his retirement being a permanent one. When Gray compared his situation to Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, and Mike Tyson, who all retired and later returned to their sports, Brady replied open-endedly, “I’m just gonna take things as they come. I think that’s the best way to put it. And I don’t think anything never — you know, you never say never. At the same time, I know that I’m very — I feel very good about my decision. So, I don’t know how I’ll feel six months from now.”

Brady’s 22-season career ended with 316 game starts and an all-time record of 243-73 with 84,520 passing yards and 7,263 completions. He has five Super Bowl MVP Awards.

Related: Listen to SiriusXM’s sports specials for Super Bowl LVI Week

Alongside Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray, Brady is the co-host of Let’s Go!, an exclusive SiriusXM podcast in which listeners hear from the two NFL greats and legendary sports broadcaster each week as they discuss all of the trending stories that are happening on and off the football field. In a recent episode, Brady chatted with Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow just hours after the rising star led his team to the Big Game. Watch clips from previous episodes of Let’s Go! below, and listen on the SXM App or download and subscribe to it on Apple Podcasts.