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As NBCSports.com's Jake Levin framed it: "Seven Super Bowl titles is the end of the line for Tom Brady. ..."

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback, months away from his 45th birthday, is retiring from football after 22 seasons, 10 Super Bowl appearances, 15 Pro Bowls, three MVP awards and countless other records. ESPN's Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington first reported the news on Saturday.

Brady's company, TB12, made the first official confirmation of the news on Twitter.

However, that post was subsequently removed and Brady's agent Don Yee released this statement: “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. He knows the realities of the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody, so that should be soon.”

In addition, Brady reportedly called Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht to say he has not decided on his future yet.

So what does all this mean?

Brady does intend to retire, several people close to him tell NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. The pushback appears to be based on timing, rather than his eventual decision.

All this came shortly after a report from CBSSports.com's Jason La Canfora that Brady would likely be making an announcement about his plans for the future soon.

Brady, who spent the first 20 years of his career with the New England Patriots, had said for years that he planned on playing until he was 45.

But as Profootballtalk.com's Josh Alper notes, speculation that he'd hang up the cleats picked up steam before last Sunday's divisional round loss to the Rams. In a recent interview, Brady said he had no interest in a farewell tour and that pointed to a retirement announcement because a return for another season would have wound up being exactly that.

In addition, when Brady began speaking on his podcast about putting family first, it seemed like retirement might be more likely than we realized.

Brady, who turns 45 on Aug. 3, has already outlasted every player from his own draft class in 2000, when he was drafted 199th overall by the Patriots in Bill Belichick's first season. He's also outlasted every player drafted in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

As Levin pointed out, Brady led the league in both passing yards (5,316) and passing touchdowns (43) in 2021, the second time in his career he's led the NFL in both categories in the same season (2007).

A member of the Hall of Fame all-decades teams from both the 2000s and 2010s, Brady retires as the NFL's all-time leader in passing yards (84,520), passing touchdowns (624) and completed passes (7,263). Brady retires after 47 career playoff games, most all-time and 15 more than the next-closest player in former Patriots teammate Adam Vinatieri. His 318 regular season appearances are seventh-most all-time.

Brady had been attempting to lead the Buccaneers to back-to-back Super Bowl titles, something no team had accomplished since Brady's Patriots in 2003-04.

Over 285 appearances with New England, including 283 starts, Brady went 219-64, plus 30-11 in the postseason and 6-3 in Super Bowls. He won MVP honors with the Patriots in 2007, 2010 and 2017, though didn't win the Super Bowl in any of those seasons. Brady was MVP in Super Bowls XXXVI, XXXVIII, XLIX and LI with New England and LV in Tampa Bay.

As Alper summed up, "Brady will add a Hall of Fame jacket and many other accolades to that long list of accomplishments as he's set the standard for all quarterbacks who will follow in his footsteps."

We'll be following up with the official announcement -- assuming it does indeed come -- and more on the Buccaneers' plans at quarterback going forward (although head coach Bruce Arians has already suggested the team will be a player in free agency at the position if need be) in coming days.