A reminder to all New England Patriots fans on days like this: Always look for the blue checkmark.
After Tom Brady officially announced his retirement Tuesday, some Patriots supporters were duped by a fake report indicating the quarterback would sign a one-day contract with New England and deliver a speech Wednesday morning at Patriot Place.
Again, that report — from an account whose profile reads: “Esteemed sports journalist & Patriots Beat Writer, Double PHD in Journalism & Female Anatomy” — is not true, a Patriots spokesperson confirmed. So, don’t show up at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday expecting to see TB12.
Odds are high that Brady and the Patriots will plan some sort of reunion in the future, allowing the team to honor the 44-year-old QB for his contributions over his two decades in New England. But no such plans are imminent.
Brady won six Super Bowls and played in three more during his phenomenal run with the Patriots, then won a seventh title during his two-year stint with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He said in October, after the Bucs defeated the Patriots in his wildly anticipated return to Foxboro, that he’d “always be a part of this (New England) community” and would be “up here quite a bit when it’s all said and done.”
Patriots owner Robert Kraft saluted Brady in a glowing statement Tuesday, saying he “will always feel a close bond to him and will always consider him an extension of my immediate family.”
“Words cannot describe the feelings I have for Tom Brady, nor adequately express the gratitude my family, the New England Patriots and our fans have for Tom for all he did during his career,” Kraft said. “A generation of football fans have grown up knowing only an NFL in which Tom Brady dominated.”
