It's not unusual for a man who is 44 years to think he's too old for the NFL.
But it's very unusual for a guy to walk away after leading the league in passing yards and touchdowns. Tom Brady is doing that.
This year playing with the Buccaneers, Brady threw for 5,316 yards and 43 touchdowns, leading the league in both categories while leading Tampa Bay to the NFC South title and a first-round playoff win.
It's not every year one of the top players in the game walks away, but this isn't the first time it's happened in the NFL.
And of the greats to call it quits after a strong season, Brady might be the least surprising since he was the oldest player in the league last year.
Here are some other guys who left while they still had gas in the tank.
Barry Sanders
The Lions running back was sick of losing, and if you play in Detroit, that's a problem. In 1998, the speedy back retired at age 31 after rushing for 1,491 and four touchdowns. He was on pace to become the NFL's all-time leading rusher, but even that wasn't enough to keep him in the league.
Jim Brown
Another guy to hang up the cleats at 30 was arguably the best running back of all time. Brown was a star on the Cleveland Browns, and he was up until the day he retired. In 1965 he rushed for 1,544 yards and 17 touchdowns. Good thing there weren't many fantasy keeper leagues back then, because that would be depressing losing that production.
Andrew Luck
Colts fans were so upset the franchise quarterback retired during the 2019 preseason that they booed the 29-year-old. That's no way to treat a guy who in a year coming off neck woes threw for 4,593 and 39 touchdown passes in 2018. But in their defense, his exit left the Colts without a quarterback and it ultimately stuck them with Carson Wentz, so maybe a little booing was OK.
Patrick Willis
At just 30 years old, the San Francisco middle linebacker was one of the most feared players in the league and it's a reason he was just nominated for the NFL Hall of Fame. Willis played eight years in the NFL and was a Pro Bowler in all but one of season and a first-team All-Pro in all but three. His exit left the 49ers with a big hole to fill in the middle of the defense.
Calvin Johnson
He was banged up, that's fair, but Johnson was still the best receiver in the NFL when he retired at 31. A down year by his standards, Johnson caught 88 passes for 1,214 yards and nine touchdowns. Like Sanders, the Detroit Lions great wasn't happy with losing, and it's said that's why he stepped away.
Pat Tillman
Maybe he would have come back to the NFL, but the Arizona Cardinals safety spent three years in the NFL and was an All-Pro once when he left the team and enlisted in the United States Army in May of 2002 after the Sept. 11 attacks. He was tragically killed in 2004 while in Afghanistan.
