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Tom Brady’s retirement means that America’s most eligible bachelor is no longer the NFL’s most eligible free agent.
Brady’s decision not to play a 24th NFL season leaves one fewer rider for the offseason quarterback carousel, which could send a few teams scrambling and could boost the value of a few other veteran starters.
Here is a look at the ripple effect created Wednesday when Brady, 45, announced that he is “retiring for good” on his second try:
You have to wonder if head coach Josh McDaniels so easily moved on from Derek Carr late this season because he expected to reunite with Brady due to their 11-year history as play-caller and quarterback with the Patriots. If McDaniels doesn’t have a good Plan B, forcing out Carr could wind up being a worse move than when he ran off Jay Cutler and wound up starting Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow during his Broncos tenure.
Head coach Todd Bowles wasted his one year with Brady — a gift from predecessor Bruce Arians — and now has a depth chart topped by free agent Blaine Gabbert and Kyle Trask as he looks to hire a coordinator to replace the fired Byron Leftwich. It makes Bowles’ quarterback options during his Jets tenure sound good.
