Tom Brady 's retirement announcement made no mention of theNew England Patriots .- Brady thanked members of the Bucs, their owners, fans, and his family in his announcement.
Tom Brady's official retirement announcement didn't mention the team he was on in the first 20 years of his career.
In a message posted to Instagram on Tuesday, Brady announced his decision to officially retire from the
Brady's announcement was a long message that thanked many people from the
Here's a list of those he thanked in his message:
- Buccaneers teammates
- Buccaneers fans
- The city of Tampa and St. Petersburg
- The Glazer family, which owns the Buccaneers
- Bucs GM Jason Licht
- Bucs head coach Bruce Arians
- Bucs coaches and staff
- Alex Guerrero, Brady's trainer and business partner
- Don Yee and Steve Dubin, his agents
- Brady's parents and siblings
- Gisele Bündchen and Brady's kids
And that's it.
In the post, Brady does mention playing for 22 years. And he says the friendships and relationships he made in the NFL will last.
Still, it is eyebrow-raising that Brady did not mention the Patriots, their fans,
Things did not end well between Brady and the Patriots. His relationship with Belichick fractured in later years, and Brady grew resentful of signing short, team-friendly contracts and rarely receiving praise from Belichick.
Still, publicly, Brady has only said kind things about his time in New England and vice versa.
When Brady left the Patriots, Robert Kraft said Brady was like a son to him.
Belichick also released a statement calling Brady the greatest quarterback ever after Brady joined the Bucs in free agency.
When Brady and the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl last season, the Patriots even congratulated Brady on Twitter.
After the Buccaneers beat the Patriots in Week 4 of the 2021 season, Brady and Belichick reportedly held a private meeting – a sign that Brady's departure didn't totally destroy things.
Perhaps Brady has a bigger tribute and goodbye planned, but for now, the lack of mention of a team he spent two decades and won six Super Bowls with is certainly jarring.