"Tom Brady cannot walk away" - Mike Florio has major doubts about TB12's permanent retirement

Tom Brady's retirement after the 2021 NFL season is still reverberating throughout the offseason. The former signal-caller for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers decided to call it quits after 22 glorious seasons in the league.

While many believe that Brady will be happy with his post-NFL life, others speculate that his return to the league that he dominated for almost half of his life is imminent.

NFL analyst Mike Florio believes the latter of the two theories and was recently a guest on The Rich Eisen Podcast. Here's what Florio had to say when asked whether he thinks the GOAT will come back to play in the NFL:

"I really do. He said (six days after he retired), 'Never Say Never' on his podcast. He said, 'I don't know how I'm gonna feel in June,' which reminded me eerily of what Brett Favre told David Letterman in April 2008. That made me think that he was coming back by saying something along the lines of 'something's bound to happen when training camp rolls around.'"

Mike Florio continued to speak on his belief that Tom Brady will return next season:

"I feel like Tom Brady cannot walk away (after throwing for) 5,000 passing yards. He'd previously said, 'I don't want to turn on the TV and see a bunch of guys playing and I say wow, they suck. I can do it better.' The only way he's going to avoid that this year is to come back or not watch football at all."

While the five-time Super Bowl MVP deserves the right to enjoy the fruits of his labor in retirement, he has certainly left the door ajar for the possibility of a return to the game.

Will Tom Brady look to return to the NFL in 2022?

NFC Divisional Playoffs - Los Angeles Rams v Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' front office, including head coach Bruce Arians and general manager Jason Licht, has been bombarded with questions about whether or not the team expects the three-time NFL MVP to return in 2022.

During an interview on NFL Network on Tuesday at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, Jason Licht summarized his thoughts on the matter by saying the following:

“We’ll see what the future holds. We’ll leave the light on. You always leave the light on for a guy like Tom Brady.”

There have been obvious signs that Brady is already getting the itch to return to the NFL. Hours before Super Bowl LVI kicked off between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals, he shared a screenshot from his phone showing a calendar reminder of the big game.

His reaction to the screenshot on Twitter was summed up in one (expletive) word:

"S**t!"

Last month, NFL reporter Rich Ohrnberger tweeted that the star quarterback retired due to issues with Bruce Arians.

Ohrnberger wrote:

"Heard some interesting things recently... The Tom Brady & Bruce Arians honeymoon was over in Tampa. The retirement announcement wasn't because of the trouble of seeing eye-to-eye on the offensive game plan, but the relationship was souring."

However, coach Arians quickly dismissed those rumors with a statement of his own:

“I mean, that’s such bulls---. That’s what pisses me off. I guess Byron could probably corroborate this, too.’’

Stay tuned as the new league year begins on March 16. Who knows what the future holds for the five-time NFL MVP and latest retiree?