Why didn’t Tom Brady thank the Patriots in his retirement announcement?
Football fans reacted when Tom Brady didn’t thank the New England Patriots in his retirement announcement. A report reveals the reason for the omission.
When Tom Brady announced his retirement on Feb.1, one thing that caught the attention of football fans was how he neglected to thank the New England Patriots, where he spent the first 20 seasons of his NFL career.
No thanks to Patriots
In his statement, he thanked a lot of people, including his family, his agents, his trainers, his business partner, and almost everyone related to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He glaringly omitted the Patriots and head coach Bill Belichick, with whom he won six Super Bowl titles.
Brady has un-retired since then, but this little mystery remained unsolved. Now, a report has shed some light onto the matter.
Brady to Miami Dolphins?
Over the weekend, reports surfaced that the 44-year-old had been on the brink of leaving the Buccaneers and joining the Miami Dolphins, with talk of him becoming a minority owner of the team.
However, these plans fell through after former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the team and the NFL. Flores made his accusations and Brady announced his retirement on the same day.
Boston Globe’s Ben Volin, one of the first who reported on the Dolphins-Brady deal, has expanded on his account. On the Dan Le Batard Show, he in effect said that Brady only mentioned the Buccaneers in his announcement because he was saying goodbye only to them, and not to professional football.
According to Volin, the three-time NFL MVP was not yet thanking the Patriots because he still expected to be playing against them as part of the Dolphins.
“He wasn’t really saying goodbye to the Patriots. In fact, he was gonna see them twice a year in this new arrangement,” he said.
Brady’s retirement is on the back burner for now. But if and when he does retire (for real this time!), we might see him finally thanking the team that gave him the platform on which he built the reputation for being the GOAT of professional football.