Two years ago, after 20 seasons, Tom Brady left the Patriots for Tampa Bay.
It wasn’t the ending many in New England had hoped for, especially with how the 2019 season played out where the quarterback seemed frustrated and disinterested at times. But, given everything he accomplished, he deserved every right to be happy and get what he wanted.
So, on March 17, 2020 Brady posted two statements to social media, one thanking the Patriots organization and another thanking the fans of New England to say he would not be returning for season No. 21. Shortly thereafter, he was off to Tampa Bay.
Fast forward almost a year, Brady and his Buccaneers were in the Super Bowl, and with the Patriots finishing 7-9, all of New England’s attention was on Tampa Bay and Brady. When the Bucs beat the Chiefs in the Super Bowl last February, it was bittersweet for Patriots fans, but by and large they stuck with their guy and almost treated it like the other six Super Bowls he won with the Patriots.
Brady still had his supporters for the 2021 season, which did not go as well as the season before, and ended with a tough loss to the Rams in the NFC divisional round.
And then Tuesday, following days of speculation and his team going all-in to shut down reports of him retiring, Brady made it official with a seven-slide Instagram post.
The first, a picture in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniform and the final six a statement where he thanked a number of people — Bucs teammates, Bucs fans, the city of Tampa and St. Petersburg, the Glazer family, Jason Licht, Bruce Arians, Bucs coaches, every single Bucs staffer and employee, Alex Guerrero, Don Eye, Steve Dubin, and finally his parents and family.
Not a single mention of anyone with the Patriots.
Huh?
Sure, Brady thanked everyone with the organization and fans when he left New England two years ago, but no mention of anyone or anything related to the place he spent 90.9% of his NFL career in his retirement statement? Not even a sentence?
This has to sting for Patriots fans, and it should. Even the photo is from his return to New England when his Buccaneers beat the Patriots.
He didn’t need to thank every single person associated with the Patriots, but at least throw in a line acknowledging the fact he spent 20 seasons with the franchise. Heck, even commissioner Roger Goodell mentioned Patriots fans in his three paragraph statement on the quarterback.
This also wasn’t something Brady just threw together on the fly. It was a carefully worded statement that he theoretically had days to come up with following the reports from over the weekend.
“I feel like I’ll always be a part of this community,” Brady said following his return to Gillette Stadium last October. “I’ll be up here quite a bit when it’s all said and done. When I retire, I’m sure there will be a lot of time for – you know, I have a lot of friends up here, and it’s a great place. My kids were born on Beacon Street in the city. It’s been an amazing place for me, it still is.”
Amazing place, but apparently just not enough to get a single mention when calling it a career.
Is it petty to get worked up over words used in a retirement statement? Probably.
But, for all the organization and region did for him, shouldn’t it feel like it was reciprocated? At least for now it doesn’t.