Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady announced his retirement on Tuesday in an Instagram post, and he had so many people to thank.
There were so many people, in fact, that he seemed to forget to thank or acknowledge anyone from his first 20 years in the league. In his written statement, Brady mentioned Buccaneers fans, the city of Tampa, the Bucs owners (the Glazer Family) and Bucs general manager Jason Licht and coach Bruce Arians along with the rest of the coaching staff and employees. Brady also thanked his body coach and businesses partner Alex Guerrero and his agents Don Yee and Steve Dubin. Then Brady was on to his family: his parents, his wife Gisele Bundchen and his kids.
Who and what was he forgetting? New England. Bill Belichick. Robert Kraft. And … a few others.
The reasoning could be that Brady felt he acknowledged the Patriots when he left the organization two years ago. Brady and the Patriots may also have something bigger in store — so the quarterback felt he should give the Bucs the attention for now. Whatever the reason, Brady’s announcement and his glaring omissions made for plenty of jokes on Twitter.
Tom Brady spends five Instagram pages thanking the Bucs fans, owners, coaches, staff…and in all nine pages not one mention of the Patriots.
— Toucher and Rich (@Toucherandrich) February 1, 2022
Tom didn’t mention Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick, the Patriots organization, Patriot fans or his time in New England. Is that weird?
— Lou Merloni (@LouMerloni) February 1, 2022
Patriots fans who hated those random NFL social graphics with half Bucs/half Pats jerseys are gonna REALLY hate that Tom Brady personally DIDN’T THANK THEM AT ALL!!! https://t.co/uDkiuyKOHK
— Adam Weinrib (@AdamWeinrib) February 1, 2022
Tom Brady has announced his retirement on IG. No mention of #Patriots but thanks:
-Bucs fans
-Tampa
-Glazer Family
-Jason Licht
-Bruce Arians
-Bucs Coaches
-Bucs staff/employees
-Alex Guerrero
-Don Yee, Steve Dubin
-Parents & Entire Family
-Gisele, kidshttps://t.co/j7M1iNLSh5— Merloni & Fauria (@MerloniFauria) February 1, 2022
Brady didn’t thank the Patriots, why is that?
— James Stewart (@IAmJamesStewart) February 1, 2022
A little strange that Tom Brady didn’t mention the Patriots once in his retirement post.
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) February 1, 2022
People thanked in Tom Brady’s announcement
Bucs teammates
Bucs fans
City of Tampa
Glazer Family
Jason Licht
Bruce Arians
Bucs coaches/staffers
Alex Guerrero
His agents
His family pic.twitter.com/M6AG0ljk5p— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) February 1, 2022
The Tom Brady retirement announcement not having a single word about Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick, or anything about his time with the Patriots is very interesting!
— Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) February 1, 2022
Tom Brady doesn’t mention the Patriots or Belichick once in his retirement announcement. Confirmed: Tom Brady will enter the Hall of Fame as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer wearing creamsicle. pic.twitter.com/KxaSrEKmdk
— Cass Anderson (@casspa) February 1, 2022
I know Brady thanked everyone in New England when he left, but that was two years ago. If he thought that meant he didn’t need to even mention the Patriots now, I feel like that’s pretty naive and a major miscalculation of how Pats fans would perceive it.
— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin9) February 1, 2022
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