Robert Kraft Planning ‘Special, Unique’ Way To Honor Tom Brady

A player as accomplished as legendary Patriots quarterback Tom Brady doesn’t deserve a run-of-the-mill ceremony with the organization set to honor him Sunday with New England taking on the Philadelphia Eagles in the season opener at Gillette Stadium.

And Patriots owner Robert Kraft isn’t planning as such.

Not many details of how the Patriots will honor Brady are known except that there will be a halftime ceremony and the seven-time Super Bowl champion could be on the field during pregame warm-ups. But Kraft promises it won’t be like any other event they have held.

“He’s really excited and I’m excited because our fans never really got a chance to say goodbye in a proper way,” Kraft told reporters following Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the completed renovations to Gillette Stadium, per ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “We’re going to do something special and unique with him.”

Brady’s former teammate Ty Law expects plenty of past Patriots players to be in attendance for the event.

And Kraft dished who else will be accompanying Brady on the day of his ceremony.

“I don’t think I’m supposed to be saying, but he’s got 20 members of his family coming,” Kraft said. “It’s just a statement, all his nephews, nieces, his sisters, his parents. We’re honored to be hosting all of them.”

Brady played for 20 seasons with the Patriots before departing in free agency to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers following the 2019 season. He’s only been back to Gillette Stadium once since then, when he led the Buccaneers to a Week 4 win in Foxboro during the 2021 season.

And Brady knows this trip will be unique for him, too, with the quarterback going back to his old stomping grounds for the first time as a fan.