Gotham Chopra Admits His Team Thought Tom Brady Would Retire in 2017, Compares His Documentary to Michael Jordan’s Last Dance

Tom Brady famously retired from the NFL in 2023 after 23 remarkable seasons, but it wasn’t a smooth or sudden decision. It took him three attempts—and a high-profile divorce—before he could finally walk away from the game that had defined his life since his teenage years. While he eventually stepped away after three seasons in Tampa Bay, that was never part of the original plan.

Brady had intended to end it all back in 2017, on the ultimate high note, after leading the Patriots to their fifth Lombardi Trophy with that historic comeback against the Falcons in Super Bowl LI.

Gotham Chopra, founder of Religion of Sports and long-time collaborator with Brady through his production company 199 Productions, reflected on this during a recent appearance on The Rich Eisen Show. Chopra, who has worked closely with Brady on several projects, including the newly released “Built in Birmingham”, revealed a key detail: back in 2017, he and his team genuinely thought Brady was going to retire.

“We have done a lot with him because especially at that transition from the last years of football, which we thought were going to be 2017, and then it kept going and going, but then even as he transitioned, we’ve done a lot of content around Tom.”

But when Brady decided to keep going, Chopra and his team stayed the course, opting to document the journey. This led to the six-part docuseries Tom vs. Time, which gave fans an intimate look into Brady’s life both on and off the field.

Around that same time, Michael Jordan gave ESPN and Netflix permission to use footage from his final season with the Bulls, setting the stage for The Last Dance. The impact of that series was monumental, and for Chopra, it was deeply inspirational.

He saw in Brady the perfect subject for a similar long-form project. And unlike The Last Dance, which took nearly two decades to see the light of day, Chopra says the Brady version won’t take nearly as long. In fact, he and his team have been steadily filming and archiving footage of Brady since 2017, and they believe there’s enough material to put together something just as compelling, and it could be released sooner than people expect.

” I think when we were working in 2017 on the Initial Tom vs Time thing, that was around the time like The Last Dance was being talked about, it’s coming out. Suddenly, in our business, everybody’s like, I want to make the next Last Dance, singular moment, singular athlete.  But if there was one athlete that, like, we should be capturing content, it was Tom, and how it is going to end.”

Despite officially retiring a couple of years ago and pivoting to new ventures, including his ownership stake in the Las Vegas Raiders, Aces, and Birmingham City FC, and his budding broadcast career with Fox, Chopra says Brady hasn’t completely transitioned out of athlete mode. Tom knows it too. He’s aware that a part of him is still wired like a competitor, still adapting to life after football.

One thing that has changed, though, is his perspective, especially when it comes to New England. According to Chopra, Brady no longer holds any resentment toward the Patriots or the organization.

That shift in mindset was evident when he returned to Gillette Stadium for his Patriots Hall of Fame induction. Rather than tension or bitterness, fans saw a smiling, relaxed, and reflective Brady, cheerful as he embraced the franchise, the fans, and the place where his legend began.