Days after reports of his pending retirement were published and then refuted by members of his camp, Tom Brady officially announced his retirement from the NFL on his own terms via an Instagram post on Tuesday morning.
Based on what Brady wrote in his retirement letter, which was likely edited and gone over multiple times with a fine-tooth comb by his in-house public relations team, those terms did not include thanking anyone involved with the New England Patriots, including coach Bill Belichick, owner Robert Kraft or the fans that cheered the 44-year-old through mostly thick, but also some thin, for two decades. Also without a word of thanks: any of Brady’s Patriots teammates.
People who were thanked and mentioned in Brady’s post include but were not limited to: Bucs fans, the entire Tampa-St. Petersburg region, the Glazer family, Jason Licht, Bruce Arians, every single Bucs staffer and employee, Alex Guerrero, Gisele and his children. Also getting a shoutout were Brady’s companies — none of which he would have had the money to start without Kraft signing his checks — Autograph, Brady Brand and TB12 Sports.
“My playing career has been such a thrilling ride, and far beyond my imagination, and full of ups and downs,” Brady wrote. “When you’re in it every day, you really don’t think about any kind of ending. As I sit here now, however, I think of all the great players and coaches I was privileged to play with and against — the competition was fierce and deep, JUST HOW WE LIKE IT. But the friendships and relationships are just as fierce and deep. I will remember and cherish those memories and re-visit them often. I feel like the luckiest person in the world.”
For someone as polished and PR-conscious as Brady, the king of saying nothing while spewing a buzzword-filled mouth soup behind a podium for minutes on end, the omission of the Patriots organization and New England’s fan base cannot be viewed as anything other than deliberate. Essentially, Brady said something major by saying nothing in his retirement note.
A picture, it’s said, is worth a thousand words. Out of the thousands of pictures that Brady could have chosen to post with his retirement note, the one he chose is of him with a smirk on his playing for the Bucs against the Patriots from earlier this season in a game that Tampa Bay won.
He certainly may have his reasons. It’s no secret that Brady and Belichick had a rocky relationship throughout the years, especially towards the end of his time in New England. And Kraft’s decision to back Belichick when Brady’s contract was up two seasons ago may have left a bitter taste in the seven-time Super Bowl winner’s mouth despite seemingly having a warm relationship with the owner. There’s even the chance that somehow someone involved with the Patriots was responsible for leaking the retirement news that broke over the weekend to the media. The Patriots were certainly ready for Brady’s retirement; just look at the weird illustration they had ready to go for the occasion.
However, even if Brady hates Belichick, despises Kraft and blames the Patriots organization for ruining his big news, to not have a single mention of the New England fans who have backed him since he was 24-year-old kid out of Michigan thrust into a starting role is classless, petty and not in line with the way Brady has conducted himself (at least publicly) during his career. But make no mistake, it was also calculated, pre-meditated and intentional — just like a Brady pass.
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