Winners and losers of Tom Brady's retirement announcement extend from field to broadcast booth

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For the second time in a year, Tom Brady – by nearly every account, the greatest quarterback and player in the 103-year history of the NFL – is retiring. And, unlike in 2022 – when rumors of TB12's retirement leaked prior to Super Bowl 56 before he eventually confirmed them one year ago today (and reversed the decision a month later) – Brady, 45, said in social media posts Wednesday morning that, "I'm retiring – for good."

So concludes, apparently, the 23-year career of the man who owns seven Super Bowl rings, more than any other NFL franchise, basically all of the league's significant passing records and a bevy of individual awards – most notably three league MVP trophies and five Super Bowl MVPs.

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But aside from Brady's historical significance to the game, his decision to hang up his cleats doubtless triggers several near-term consequences. A look at some winners and losers in the aftermath of his (latest) seismic announcement:

WINNERS

Tom Brady

Really, there was nothing left to prove. Could he have continued playing, padded his already unparalleled résumé and maybe even snatched one more Lombardi Trophy? Sure. But at what cost, and was there really a point? By the end, Brady was simply chasing his own greatness and standards, and that was apparent in the 2022 season. His numbers looked fine (4,694 yards passing, 25 TDs, 9 INTs, single-season records with 490 completions and 733 attempts), particularly if they'd been attached to someone else's name. But the eyeball test told a different story – that the same Brady didn't take the field last season, his first with a losing record (8-9) as a starter. He was atypically not on the same page with his receivers, frequently vented at and among his teammates on the sideline and made uncharacteristic mistakes even as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers limped to the NFC South crown.

Tom Brady says his NFL career is over, and with that comes ripple effects across the league.
Tom Brady says his NFL career is over, and with that comes ripple effects across the league.

And maybe the personal toll became too much for Brady, who shockingly bowed out of a significant chunk of training camp, took personal days on Wednesday during the season, missed a walkthrough prior to a loss in Pittsburgh so he could attend the wedding of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and divorced his wife of 13 years, Gisele Bündchen. Now, he should have ample opportunity to reflect on all that he's accomplished as he moves into the next phase of his life, giving up avocado ice cream for something tastier, while awaiting his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame's class of 2028.

Patrick Mahomes

The Kansas City Chiefs superstar is 0-2 mano a mano against Brady in the playoffs, including the 2018 AFC championship game and a Super Bowl 55 blowout by the Bucs. But maybe Mahomes, certainly a more gifted passer of the football than Brady, can at least get into the "GOAT" conversation one day now that TB12's body of work seems to be complete. Getting a second ring in Super Bowl 57 seems imperative, though, no matter how well K.C. looks set up for the long term.

George Blanda

The Hall of Famer was 48 when he threw his final pass at the end of the 1975 season. Appears Blanda will retain his distinction as the league's oldest active player.

NFC South

Up for grabs. Might only take seven wins for the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints – or even the Bucs – to win it in 2023.

Tom Brady's family

Per reports, Bündchen wanted Brady to spend more time with his three children, two of them teenagers, and that was the impetus for last year's retirement. Expect him to settle on the East Coast to be near his kids, two of whom he had with Bündchen, without trying to shoehorn himself in with a new team that might have allowed for his most optimal work-life balance – not that that was usually Brady's strength – yet probably would not have been Super Bowl-caliber. He'll also have more time to be with his elderly parents.

Patriots and Steelers

Both storied franchises own six Super Bowl victories – one shy of Brady, who won his first half-dozen with the Pats. Now they can get back to chasing their own Stairways to Seven and then get on with the business of surpassing Brady.

LOSERS

Patriots

They're forever 0-1 against Brady, who helped the Bucs escape 19-17 in his Gillette Stadium return in 2021 – the only time he faced the franchise with which he built his legacy over two decades. Even if Bill Belichick and Co. manage to notch more Super Sunday wins as the coach's clock continues to run, a Brady asterisk is forever attached. And it's starting to feel more like that could be a permanent state of affairs given the Patriots have yet to win a playoff game since Brady's departure ... a stretch when he notched five postseason victories, including Super Bowl 55.

Greg Olsen?

Per multiple reports, Brady has a 10-year, $375 million gig to be FOX's lead football analyst. If that agreement holds, that would mean Olsen's upcoming Super Bowl broadcast debut from the booth might be his last – at least for FOX. However, given how well-regarded Olsen's work has been, you have to wonder if he (or Brady) might land on another network's top broadcast team, which might benefit football viewers at large.

Buccaneers

Even with Brady already off their payroll, their salary cap needs a $55 million haircut over the next six weeks, per OverTheCap. Feels like a long rebuild could be in the works for a team that only has one quarterback under contract: Kyle Trask, an unproven player drafted at the end of the second round two years ago.

GOAT aspirants

Wanna be LeBron James to Brady's Michael Jordan? Good luck. Maybe a 17-game regular season (or 18?) and rules geared to promote passing and protect quarterbacks will help future generations take aim at Brady's numbers. But the only other quarterbacks with even four Super Bowl victories are Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana, whose primes occurred before the salary-cap era (Montana's final season in 1994 overlapped with the cap's first). The number of starting quarterbacks currently in the NFL with multiple Super Bowl titles: Zero. Mahomes, now Super Bowl-bound for the third time, has a slim shot to climb into the rarest of air, but otherwise?

49ers, Raiders

They seemed like the most logical free agent destinations for Brady had he continued playing. San Francisco, his boyhood team – he was in attendance at old Candlestick Park for the legendary 1981 NFC championship game – seemed to suddenly have a quarterback need for an otherwise championship-level roster with Jimmy Garoppolo unsigned, Brock Purdy facing elbow surgery and 2021 first-rounder Trey Lance far from established. In Las Vegas, where Derek Carr's tenure ended with his end-of-season benching, there was an obvious opening for Brady to step in while reuniting with head coach Josh McDaniels, his longtime offensive coordinator in New England. The Silver and Black will certainly have to pivot to other options – Aaron Rodgers? – while the Niners weigh their own situation.

NFL fans

An entire generation of them don't recognize this league without Brady, who's been its face for the better part of two decades and has just about been synonymous with NFL football in the 21st century. Change can be hard, but ... it's inevitable.

The storybook ending

Why don't the greatest athletes embrace it? Every fan of Jordan wishes he'd ended his career with the Chicago Bulls, the game-winning shot in the 1998 NBA Finals the perfect exclamation point. Brady could have gone out with a Super Bowl victory with the Patriots four years ago – though he was a bit of a passenger in their 13-3 defeat of the Los Angeles Rams. He could've gone out on top two years ago with the Buccaneers, for whom he earned his fifth and final Super Bowl MVP award while becoming the first quarterback to win the game on his team's home field. Bestseller stuff. Leaving after last season's near-comeback defeat of the Rams in a 30-27 divisional-round playoff loss would have still ranked on The New York Times' Top 100 list. Getting blown out by the Dallas Cowboys in the wild-card tier of a sub-.500 season feels a bit like a self-published ending, no?

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Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tom Brady retires: Winners and losers of NFL legend's seismic decision