Tom Brady filed his retirement paperwork with the NFL and NFL Players Association on Friday, several reports said, cementing the seven-time Super Bowl winner’s Feb. 1 announcement that his playing days were over.

Brady retired last winter, walked it back 40 days later and played one final season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Buccaneers got three seasons with Brady, winning a Super Bowl in his first year on the scene and losing in the playoffs the next two seasons.

Now the bill has come due for Tampa Bay, as it will take a full $35 million dead-cap hit in 2023 as a result of Brady’s retirement.

Had Brady worked with the Bucs on a contract amendment to keep Brady on the books with so-called voidable years and processed his retirement after June 1, they would have been able to split the dead-cap hit between 2023 and 2024. Instead, multiple reports said, all $35 million will be assessed in 2023, putting Tampa Bay nearly $60 million over the salary cap.

The team’s remaining options at quarterback as of now are Kyle Trask and unrestricted free agent Blaine Gabbert.

Brady played in the Super Bowl 10 times — or 18 percent of all Super Bowls to date — was a three-time NFL Most Valuable Player and a 15-time Pro Bowl selection. He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots before joining the Buccaneers ahead of the 2020 season.

–Field Level Media

The Kansas City Chiefs have a clean bill of health, while the Philadelphia Eagles listed only one player, wide receiver and return specialist Britain Covey, on the final injury report ahead of Super Bowl LVII this Sunday in Glendale, Ariz.

Covey (hamstring) popped up for the first time Thursday, was limited for two straight days and was listed Friday as questionable for the game.

An undrafted rookie, Covey has rarely seen snaps on offense but serves as Philadelphia’s punt returner. He also returned kicks in Weeks 4, 8, 9 and 10. Covey fielded 33 punts in the regular season for 308 yards with a long of 27. He averaged 9.3 yards.

If Covey can’t play, the Eagles may need to turn to the likes of speedy former Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith as a replacement punt returner.

Friday’s news was good for Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, who appeared on Thursday’s injury report as a limited participant with a knee issue. The Chiefs said Sneed practiced in full on Friday and gave him no game status designation.

That’s not to say Kansas City is at perfect attendance. Earlier in the week, it placed wide receiver Mecole Hardman on injured reserve with a pelvic injury, taking him out of the equation for the Super Bowl.
But that allowed the Chiefs to activate running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire (ankle) from IR in a corresponding move, and two other wide receivers with previous injury concerns — JuJu Smith-Schuster (knee) and Kadarius Toney (ankle, hamstring) — are cleared to play Sunday.

–Field Level Media

The Houston Texans are expected to hire Matt Burke as their defensive coordinator, NFL Network reported Friday.

The network also reported former Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury would interview for the offensive coordinator role.

Burke, who interviewed with the Texans this week, most recently worked as the defensive line coach of the Cardinals.

Burke, 46, would represent the first big hire for DeMeco Ryans, who was named the Texans head coach on Jan. 31. Ryans, 38, spent the past two seasons as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator.

Kingsbury went 28-37-1 as head coach of the Cardinals, who cleaned house after a 4-13 season ended in January. Kingsbury, 43, said he immediately was headed to Thailand with his girlfriend, denying at the time he would be interested in the offensive coordinator position with the Los Angeles Rams.

With the Texans, the opportunity is slightly different in that Kingsbury is a Texas native, and Houston is 175 miles from his hometown of New Braunfels. He has deep roots in the state, where he played quarterback at Texas Tech and later coached Patrick Mahomes in Lubbock. He was an assistant coach at Texas A&M when Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Trophy.

Burke previously was defensive coordinator in two of his three seasons with the Miami Dolphins (2016-18). He has worked in a variety of coaching roles with the Tennessee Titans (2004-08), Detroit Lions (2009-13), Cincinnati Bengals (2014-16), Philadelphia Eagles (2019-20) and New York Jets (2021).

The Texans ranked 30th in yards allowed (379.5) and 27th in points allowed (24.7) this past season.

–Field Level Media