Tom Brady is over the Super Bowl loss, says he’ll be back in 2018

Milken Institute

The rumors are settled.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady plans to be back in 2018 and still wants to play until his mid-40s. And as for why he hasn’t attended the team’s voluntary offseason program, the veteran chalks it up to family considerations.

Brady took part in the Milken Institute Global Conference on Monday, answering questions about last year’s team, the Super Bowl LII loss and his future plans. Here are some tidbits from the event below:

On if he’s over the Super Bowl loss:

"Yeah. This is going to be my 19th season upcoming, and when you're young, you don't have the perspective on your career. I certainly didn't. We won three Super Bowls before I was 26 years old, so we had all this success. I was like, 'This is my life. It changed so much.' Then we went a long period of time without winning a Super Bowl, because it's hard to do. Then we won in 2014, and there was so much appreciation because I had experienced so many adversities in my career in different ways. Because I had that perspective, after this season, I finished the game, did the interviews after with the press, and then I was walking to the locker room. I had my wife there, and I had my three kids. My daughter, who's 5, and my middle son, who's 8, they were crying. Then I was like, 'I'm the one, I can't be crying.' I saw them, gave them a big hug and said, 'Guys, this is sports. Daddy doesn't always win. You try the best you can try, and sometimes it doesn't go the way you want it to, but that doesn't discourage you from trying again.' My oldest son said, 'Dad, you did your best.' I looked at him, and it was a good moment for a father. I think the point is those things have changed me in my life. I've evolved and grown so much since I started. Just based on the circumstances of my life, I can deal with them better than I have in the past, where it was really the only thing. It's not that it's not an important thing, but there are a lot of other important things in my life, especially my family and my kids and teaching them the lessons I hope they'll learn just from watching me do something I love to do."

His greatest fulfillment:

"Sports, certainly in my journey, I feel like I brought to the table to our team what we needed at the right time. I've been surrounded by so many great players, so many great coaches, a great organization, great ownership -- we're all trying to look for that in our life, to put you in a position where you can be surrounded by people that bring out the best in you. So how can you look at it as an individual when you have so many people that are there to support you and take more credit than whatever 1/70th of what you as an individual are in correlation to the team. I love team sports. I love being able to share it with so many people. That's the greatest fulfillment for me. After you win, you go hug all the guys you've done it with. You're climbing mountains. You're climbing mountains every week and every year, every season, and you're climbing them with different people. It's hard to get to the top. It's every bit of energy you have, every bit of determination you have. Two years ago, it ended the perfect way. Last year, it kind of sucked. But that's sports."

For more of Brady’s Q&A session at the Milken Institute Global Conference, click here.

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