Fans of Tom Brady think the NFL legend trolled his critics with his latest social media post. Reports came out Saturday that claimed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback planned to retire after 22 seasons in the league. But Brady’s dad and his agent issued statements refuting those stories. Brady hasn’t said what he wants to do, and his social media post doesn’t give away much.
On Sunday, Tom Brady shared an Instagram Story from his Brady Brand apparel line that includes the 7-time Super Bowl champ wearing one of his new shirts. The post seems innocuous enough, but his fans say Brady is playing the long game and using the extra attention to get free plugs for his merchandise.
“This is brilliant because all he has to say is, ‘I never said I’m retiring.'” He can just continue living his life and promoting his brand and act like yesterday never happened,” one fan replied to the post. “Meanwhile, the rest of the world lost their minds.”
The post is notable in one way. It’s the first time Brady has posted to social media since he announced last week that he would take some time off to figure out his future. He followed that up on his podcast “Let’s Go” last week.
“I think the point is there’s no rush for me to figure out what’s next,” Brady said, according to Fox News. “You know, I’ll know when I know. It’s a day after the season. So I think for all of us, you know, we can all decompress a bit. It’s been six straight months of football, every day consumed by day in and day out football.”
Coach: Tom Brady Says He’s ‘Not Even Close’ to Making Decision
ESPN broke the story on Saturday that sources close to Tom Brady said he planned to hang up his cleats. His current and former teammates began posting their goodbyes on social media. The NFL’s social media account began making several posts with the hashtag #ThankYouTom. Even Tom Brady’s sports company, TB12, posted a list of his accomplishments. They deleted that tweet several hours later, Sports Illustrated noted.
But it was radio silence from Brady after the news broke.
Then doubt began to creep in last night. The Athletic reported that Brady hadn’t spoken to Bucs coach Bruce Arians about his decision. Several team officials said they also hadn’t heard from their quarterback. He called Saturday night, but they said it was to tamp down any rumors. He hadn’t made up his mind.
On Sunday Arians released a statement that he spoke to Brady, and he hasn’t decided on his future.
“He hasn’t,” Arians said when asked if Brady was settled on retiring. “Not even close to making up his mind yet. He told us.”
One thing that could be delaying a decision from Brady is that the Buccaneers owe him $15 million of his original signing bonus on Feb. 4. If he retires before then, he will forfeit that money.