"If he wants to play, they believe he would play there" - Insider reveals team Tom Brady would come out of retirement to play for

After 22 NFL seasons, Tom Brady finally decided to hang up the cleats weeks ago after his second season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Ever since then, rumors have been rampant about whether or not the GOAT will return to the sidelines.

Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times recently stated that there is one team that he believes the three-time NFL MVP would play for if he decides to come out of retirement, and it's the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Here's what the Tampa Bay Times beat writer had to say about how the Buccaneers feel about the situation:

"If he wants to play, they [the Buccaneers] believe he would play here because at 45, does he really want to go to another team, learn a new offense, new players, all of that?"

The Buccaneers are of the belief that their former quarterback will return to the team if he decides to return to the league. Perhaps they have a point as Brady would surely be against a rebuild at the age of 45.

When he joined the Bucs back in 2020, he became a part of a team that was ready-made to take the next step. The only thing missing at the time was a quarterback with a penchant for winning (no disrespect to former Buccaneers starting quarterback Jameis Winston).

Will Tom Brady return in 2022?

Super Bowl LV - Tom Brady, quarterback, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

As soon as the Buccaneers quarterback retired, there were many who believed that he was just too competitive to leave the game he loved while playing at arguably the highest level of his career.

He was the runner-up for the NFL MVP and finished his final season with 5,316 passing yards; 43 passing touchdowns and 485 completions.

Legendary quarterbacks (such as recent Pittsburgh Steelers retiree Ben Roethlisberger) have often retired because they are no longer able to play as productively as they once had.

That is indeed not the case with Tom Brady. There have been subtle hints that the GOAT is missing the game he has played for roughly half of his lifetime.

A few hours before Super Bowl LVI between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals, he tweeted this caption out to show how he felt about his phone calendar's reminder of the big game.

The three-time NFL MVP will surely keep everyone guessing until the season begins in the fall of 2022.