If Tom Brady is "happily retired," why did he ask the league about playing?

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Raiders minority owner Tom Brady is sending mixed signals about whether he's thinking about playing again. Last weekend, he reposted a clip of his nifty matador move while playing flag football, capped by a piss missile to Stefon Diggs, with this observation: " Gets you thinking ." Appearing Thursday on CNBC, however, Brady said he's " happily retired ." But there's still something there. When asked by Alex Sherman of CNBC as to whether Brady has asked about the rules for an owner playing football (the Leo Farnsworth rule apparently no longer applies), Brady said this: " Funny enough you ask . I actually have inquired. And they don't like that idea very much." Consider the first line. Funny enough you ask . It implies coincidence. Recent coincidence. As in, perhaps, "You know, I just asked yesterday." That said, Brady didn't say when the question was raised. But it was. Why raise a hypothetical if there's no interest in turning it into something tangible? Either way, Brady knows he can't play unless he sells his piece of the Raiders. Given that he got it at a reduced price (and presumably would have to offer it back to majority owner Mark Davis at a refund in lieu of flipping it on the open market), Brady is choosing to keep his piece of the team and to stay on the sidelines. Except when the time comes to play flag football again. Still, to use Brady's words, his curiosity about playing while owning "gets you thinking." There's still an itch. He still can play. He'd be better right now than some of the players who are slated to start in 2026. Will the itch go away? Probably. If not, selling his share back to Davis could be an easy off ramp from a situation in which his role doesn’t seem to match the franchise's expectations.