Sports Psychologist On Tom Brady Un-Retiring: 'It's His Competitiveness'
DOVER (CBS) - When Tom Brady posted on social media Sunday night that he decided to come out of retirement after just 40 days, Northeastern professor and mental performance coach Dr. Grayson Kimball was "surprised, but not shocked."
"I think it's his competitiveness," Kimball explained. He says he saw the messaging in Brady's retirement letter that left a small crack in the door should he change his mind and return to the NFL.
Now, he's officially returning to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. "When many athletes retire, it's hard to step away," he said. "Because the question is 'who do I become?' In this case for 44 years, 'I've been a football player.'"
There are four common reasons pro-athletes tend to retire, Dr. Kimball said: injury, age, de-selection, or the most rare, and Brady's case: free choice.
"He is 44 years old, but we all know that he keeps himself in great shape physically, but I think more importantly he keeps himself in great shape mentally and for any athlete it is not necessarily the physical skill set it's the mindset," Kimball said.
Given the messaging in Brady's un-retiring announcement, Kimball said it became clear TB12 has something left to prove. "Assuming he doesn't have a catastrophic injury, there's no reason to think that he couldn't play for at least another two years."