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It’s official: After years of jukes and fake outs about if and when he was stepping off the gridiron for good, Tom Brady announced on Tuesday that he is retiring from professional football.
And fans, teammates and fellow NFL players are sharing plenty of feels about the seven-time Super Bowl winner’s end game.
“This is difficult for me to write, but here it goes: I am not going to make that competitive commitment anymore,” Brady, 44, wrote in a post shared to his official Twitter and Instagram accounts. “I have loved my NFL career, and now it is time to focus my time and energy on other things that require my attention.”
This led “Tom Brady” to top Google
GOOGL,
searches and trend on Twitter
TWTR,
on Tuesday — along with “New England,” “Patriots” and “Pats.” That’s because his lengthy statement thanked the Tampa Bay Buccaneers organization, where he played for the past two seasons, as well as his teammates, his agents and his family — but he didn’t mention the Patriots, where he spent his first 20 seasons and won six Super Bowls.
But some folks noted that Brady thanked the Patriots and coach Bill Belichick at length back when he left the team to sign with the Buccaneers in March 2020.
And the Patriots suggested there is no bad blood by tweeting a statement from Pats CEO Robert Kraft that called Brady “a privilege to watch and a dream come true.”
His current and former teammates and plenty of other NFL players also piled on the praise, with many calling him the GOAT (greatest of all time).
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell described him as “one of the greatest to ever play in the NFL,” and thanked him for his “many contributions to the game.”
Brady was also showered with plenty of praise and honorifics on Twitter, leading the hashtag #ThankYouTom to trend on Tuesday.
“With the news of @TomBrady’s retirement today, he would first be eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2027,” the Pro Football Hall of Fame also noted on Twitter.
And some, like Titans wide receiver A.J. Brown, questioned whether Brady is truly done playing football. “I think he will relax for a few days or weeks but his mind of an ultimate competitor will soon speak to him again,” he tweeted.
