Tom Brady’s NFL retirement reality is starting to sink in: ‘Different perspective’

Tom Brady will be watching the upcoming NFL season with a “different eye.”

The seven-time Super Bowl champion expressed on Monday’s episode of the “Let’s Go!” podcast on SiriusXM how he’s excited to “see football from a different perspective” following his retirement in February after 23 prolific seasons.

“I was very blessed to play for as long as I did, and I loved it. And now I get to see other guys do it, and I also get to see football from a different perspective,” Brady said.

The former quarterback, who spent 20 years with the Patriots before playing the final three years of his career with the Buccaneers, remarked how his view of the game will only continue to evolve as he delves into broadcasting next fall.

“I’ll be on FOX next year, so I have a chance to really sit back and watch and learn a different career,” said Brady, who inked a 10-year, $375 million deal in May 2022 to be the network’s lead NFL analyst.

“I’ll be able to really watch this year with kind of a different eye. You know, I used to watch it from the lens of a quarterback. Now I see it more from maybe broadcasting, but also as a fan, and then also still from a quarterback. So maybe a few different perspectives to learn, which will be a really fun thing.”

Although Brady, 46, isn’t suiting up week-in and week-out, football isn’t far from his day-to-day.

Brady’s 13-year-old son, Benjamin, is looking to follow in the footsteps of one of his dad’s most beloved targets: retired tight end Rob Gronkowski.

“My son is gonna play football this year, Benny, so I’ve been throwing the ball to him in the backyard. And he wants to be a tight end like Gronk, and he’s gonna be a little beast. He’s an amazing kid and he’s got a lot of talents. He’s a really talented musician and artist. And then he told me this year, ‘Dad, I’m playing football.’ And I was like, ‘What do you wanna play?’ And he was like, ‘Tight end. I wanna be like Gronk!’ So I actually texted Gronk and I’m like, ‘Yo, my boy wants to be like you!’” Brady shared.

Gronkowski, 34, won three Super Bowls with Brady in New England before heading south to Tampa Bay in 2020.

He and Brady hoisted the Lombardi Trophy together for the final time in February 2021 as members of the Buccaneers.

Brady, who shares son Benjamin and daughter Vivian, 10, with his ex-wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, will be kicking off the new NFL season in New England this weekend, where he’s set to be honored by the Patriots.

“I’m going back to New England on Saturday to Gillette, and Mr. Kraft has been very welcoming to me, so I’m gonna have a lot of great friends there. I’ve had so many people text me and say that they’re excited to see me come back, so it’ll be really a special reunion. I’m excited to get there. I haven’t been back much, just, you know, just by the way things work out. Your life kind of takes you in different directions,” Brady said on the podcast.

It’s been a memorable summer for Brady, who not only enjoyed exciting getaways with his children but mingled abroad with Russian model Irina Shayk.

He and Bündchen, 43, divorced last October after 13 years of marriage.